Rainbow Flames
by Allie1228
Summary: Previously Ria. What would happen if someone else was on Team Avatar? Someone that may just change the events of the story very drastically. Someone that has the power of the dragons. This is just a random idea I had, So don't take it to seriously! Thanks for reading!
1. Birthdays and Masks

**Hi! so I'm kind of new to fan fiction... and this is just idea I thought I would put out there. Yeah, I'm not really the most gifted writer. XD so don't be to hard on me. I Don't own Avatar, either. Any who, enjoy!**

Zuko

I stood by the rail of the boat, my hands clenched around the bars. Today was one of the only days of the year that I remember. It was my birthday, but that wasn't what I remember it for. I breathed in and out, trying to focus on that. I heard footsteps, and automatically recognized them as my uncles.

"What?" I said, perhaps to roughly.

"What are you doing up so early?" He asked. "It is your birthday! You should be relaxing!"

I opened my eyes to my uncles smiling face. "You should know why I don't feel like celebrating" I said through clenched teeth. "You and I both know that today isn't the day we remember my birthday, but the day we she left us."

"Zuko," Uncle said with a sad expression. "You know that we cannot change the past."

"Trust me, if I could forget everything about her, I would." I said grumpily.

I could tell the words had stung Uncle more than I intended them to. I closed my eyes again, feeling the memories come pouring back.

_"Zuko!" I heard the loud sound of footsteps coming to my room. "Zuko open up! I have a birthday present for you!" I rolled out of bed and slipped on my robe. "You know, we normally wait until after dinner to present the birthday presents." I muttered tiredly. "Well I just couldn't wait! Lady Ursa helped me pick out the coolest present _ever!" _she practically screamed. I flinched seeing I was still half asleep. "Ok, ok." I mumbled as I let her come into my room. "Are you ready for the best present you will ever see?" she said with a huge grin on her face. "As ready as I'll ever be." I said not really feeling in the mood. "Ok!" She said. "Close your eyes!" I sighed and did as she asked me. "Hold out your hands!" _You have got to be kidding me… _I thought. "Get on with it!" I snapped, even though I couldn't help but smile. "Ok!" she snapped back. _

_ I felt something heavy get put in my hands. "Now open." She said. I did, and I found myself starring into the eyes of a blue mask. It appeared to be a cat like type of animal. "Whoa…" I whispered in awe. It was so mysterious." "Look!" she said. "I got a mask, too! Now we can play imaginary!" She said as she held up a light green and yellow dragon mask. "Thanks! This _is _the coolest birthday present I ever got!" I explained. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face now, either. "No problem, and happy seventh birthday, Zuko!" She proclaimed. I smiled and followed her outside to go and play imaginary. _

I couldn't help but smile at the childhood memories. I stared into the water as I heard my uncles footsteps leave to go back to his room. I closed my eyes again and let more memories wash over me.

Iroh

I stared at Zuko as he was lost in his memories. I sighed and walked back to my quarters. I wish that Zuko would understand he wasn't the only one who missed her. I sighed and thought back to when I first saw her.

_I was about to leave back to the fire nation after our failed attempt to get into Ba Sing Se I couldn't try anymore, not after the death of my son. I felt a gap in my heart that I knew wouldn't be filled easily. Our vessel had to make a stop on a small island to re- fuel, so I went out for a walk to clear my head. Something about this island wasn't… right. I had some weapons with me, but I still felt uncomfortable. _

_ It had been a while since I had left on my walk. I was about to turn around and go back to the boat when I saw a shadow moving swiftly of in the distance. I watched as I saw the shape running towards me. I stepped of the path and into the shadows hid in the darkness of the trees as it ran past. I couldn't help but stare in shock as I realized the person was only a young girl, looking to be only about five. _

_ I was about to step out and ask the young girl if she needed help, when I saw it, two glowing eyes in the bushes, starring at the girl. I had heard about some reports of a dragon in this area, it was expected to be the last dragon. Its eyes fixed itself on me. I froze, praying it wouldn't attack. With a screech it flew out of the bushes at me. I heard the young girl scream in shock. "Hide!" I yelled at her. Her eyes were round, and she looked horrified. _

_ It __tried to shot some fire at the beast, but it easily dodged. It tried to strike me with its tail, but I dodged at the last second. I had slain many dragons in my day, and it was very rare to see one, in fact, they were considered extinct. I drew my sword out and swung it at the huge monster and managed to hit it. It roared in pain and tried to strike me again, I saw my chance and threw my sword into it, the dragons roar was cut off, and it fell still._

_ I tried to catch my breath, I looked over at the girl, and she had tears streaming down her face from fear. "Are you alright?" I asked. "I… I think so." She said in shock. "What is your name?" I asked. "My name?" she said "My name is Ria." _

**Don't take this to seriously! This is just an idea. Again, sorry I'm not the best writer. so I'm totally open to ideas!**

**Thanks for giving this story a chance! **

**p.s. **

**sorry it isn't very long. :D **


	2. Ran and Shaw

Ria- 10 years ago

I looked up at the older man, trying to keep my cool. I starred at the body of the dragon in front of me. _This can't be happening… _I thought in shock. The man looked down at me, breathing heavily. "Are you alright?" he asked, trying to catch his breath. I tried not to panic. "I… I think so…" I said looking at myself to make sure I was unharmed. "What is your name?" he asked me gently. "My name?" I asked trying to think quickly. "My name is Ria." I said remembering my birth name.

"What are you doing out all alone?" The man said as he cleaned his sword off. "I… I was walking back to my village." I stammered. "Where are your parents?" he asked. I shot the bleeding dragon a glance. "They're dead." I said quickly. "I… I had to get some medicine for some… sick people at my village." I lied. "Do you have any family? Can I help you do anything?" he asked, obviously skeptical of a little six year old wandering around in the middle of nowhere at ten o'clock.

"Umm… I have no family." I responded. "Who do you live with, then?" he questioned. I had to think quickly. "Uhh… no one. I live by myself." That was all I could come up with. He looked at me and smiled. "Well, perhaps you could come live with me at the fire nation palace?" He said. I starred at this stranger in awe. Who in the world would invite a random little girl to come live with them?

"Um… maybe, I would have to think about it." I said. He laughed and said, "I'll tell you what, if you want to come back to the fire nation, you're more than welcome to. My ship leaves tomorrow, so If you want to come, then please, come." He said. I nodded as he walked off. As soon as he did I practically burst into tears.

I ran full speed back to the cave I lived in with my brother. It was just dawn as I burst in.

"Oh, Itsuki!" I said, using his birth name. "They… they killed…"

"I know, I saw." He whispered as he pulled me into a hug.

"If you saw, why wouldn't you do anything about it?!" I snapped. "This is the thing that drives me crazy about you! You have the power to stop things, but you don't!" I yelled at my brother figure.

"You don't understand…"

"What else did you foresee that you could have stopped?! Moms death?!" I sobbed.

He let me cry for a while, but finally he said, "Listen, I know about the offer you got, to go live in the fire nation palace."

I laughed under the circumstances. "I know, isn't that silly? Who would invite a totally stranger to come live with you?"

"I want you to go."

"What?!" I practically screamed. "I don't even know this guy! How could you even say that?"

"Listen, with Taro gone we cannot afford to lose you, either. You must go; you will be well protected there."

"How could you even say that? You need me here!" I protested.

"No… what we need is for you stay safe, just for a little while. We can't risk losing you now that mom and dad are dead. I'll stay here, but you must go."

I didn't know what to say. "How long?" was all I could get out.

"I don't know, but it will be a while. I will send a message if you are needed here. You will go, and you won't fire bend, we must keep our secret safe."

"Alright…" I whispered. "I'll go."

"Good, if anything were to happen to me, you would be the last master. We need to keep you safe."

"Nothing will happen to you." I said quickly.

"You never know with this war going on." he said, his voice dripping with disappointment in the people we represent. "Take the bow, mothers flute, and my pouch. He said as he handed me the things.

I looked down at each of them. The bow would remind me of Taro, who was like my father. He used to take me out and teach me how to shoot. He always told me I had good aim. I looked down at the weapon, and then my eyes found the flute. Sayru had played the role of my mother when I was young. She had died, and I couldn't really remember her face, but sometimes I could still hear the beautiful sound of the flute she played. Then I looked at the pouch. Itsuki had brought it from his home village, one of his prized treasures.

"Something from each of the masters…" I whispered with tears running down my face. I threw my arms around him.

"Trust me when I tell you…" he said. "This will not be the last time we meet. You know I can foresee things, and you also know that I cannot tell or prevent these things from happening."

"Yes…" I said, wanting him to go on.

"Well I have foreseen your future, and I can only tell you this; you will be the one who brings back the dragons."

I stared at him. And then I nodded once. I picked up Taros old bow and slung it around my shoulder. I put the flute in the pouch and put that on, too. I looked at the fourteen year old boy, who had been a brother to me as long as I could remember, and I used the name that the world more so knew him as.

"Goodbye Shaw, red dragon." I said with a small smile.

"Goodbye Ran, blue dragon." He smiled back.

And with that I turned around and leaped off the cliff, flying into the morning sky to go to the fire nation.

I landed near the boat and quickly changed back into my human form. I walked down to the ship entrance. I scouted around for the kind man, and found him walking on board. He spotted me and a huge grin formed on his face.

"Ahhh…" he said. "So you have decided to join me?" I nodded. He smiled. "Don't worry; you will love the fire nation palace. People are very kind there." I nodded again. "Alright, lets head off!" he said and we walked onto the ship. I got one last glance at the mountain me and Itsuki lived on, and then there was nothing ahead of me but open sea.

**I know, this is totally crazy and a little risky. Trust me, it worked better in my head. BUT DON'T WORRY; LATER CHAPTERS WILL EXPLAIN THINGS… I HOPE. XD ok let me know what you guys think! I ALSO DON'T OWN ATLA. **

**READ AND REVIEW! **

**-Allie**


	3. Arrows and Hot Sauce

Zuko.

"So… the avatar is alive." I said to myself as I looked out across the ocean. "We may have underestimated him, but not next time." I said as I saw him fly off on his bison. I took in the state of my ship, it was covered in snow. I felt myself grow hot in anger. "Bring the ship to port." I ordered as I rubbed my forehead exhaustion. "I will be in my room."

I made my way down to my room; I stopped in the doorway when I saw my mask lying down on the floor. _Must have fallen… _I thought as I bent down to pick it up. I looked into its eyes… It seemed to be looking into me. I quickly set it back down. _I must be tired. It's a lot to take in, seeing the avatar is still alive. _With that I lay down and closed my eyes. I was at peace until another memory washed over me.

_"Zuko?" I heard the sound of my mother's voice calling to me down the hall. "Zuko come here! I would like you to meet someone!" I groaned and dropped my toy swords as I walked out to meet my mother. "Zuko, I would like you to meet Ria, she is going to be living with us for a while." She said with a smile plastered to her face. I glanced at the dirty looking girl standing shyly behind mother. "She is just about your age! So I want you to be kind to be kind and welcoming to her, alright?" in response I tossed the tiny stray strand of my hair aside. "Go out back and play, and remember, diner is at six o'clock sharp." She said and waved goodbye _

_ I looked at the new girl and rolled my eyes and began walking out to the garden. "Hey!" she called. "Where are you going?" I stopped for a second. "Come find me when you don't look like such a dirty present." I said as I gave her several sized to big fire nation robe a glance. she looked angry with that and stormed off. I laughed to myself and went to go play with my wooden toy swords._

_ It had been a while since I had seen Ria, she probably went to go cry to my mother or something. I kicked one of the dummies and clumsily stabbed at it. I jumped when I heard a high pitched voice say: "You'll never be able to get him like that." I whirled around to see the little dark haired girl staring at me, still in her big robe. "How long have you been watching me?!" I demanded. "For a little while, and I have to admit, your aim sucks." She stated as if it were the most obvious thing on the face of the planet. "Oh yeah?!" like you can do any better!" I shot back at her. _

_ With that she pulled something off her back and showed it to me. "See this?" she said as she thrust it in my face. "This is a yuyan bow. They are the best shooters __**ever.**__" Her voice was dripping with pride. "And my grandfather was the one who formed the yuyan, so of course, it's kind of family tradition to know how to use a bow." I rolled my eyes. "That doesn't prove anything." I told her. She started heading off towards the weapons rack. "Uhh… We aren't supposed to go there." She didn't pay any attention to me and picked up a feathered arrow. She put it in her bow and pulled the string back. I barely had time to process what was about to happen, the next thing I know I'm dodging a flying arrow headed right towards the dummy behind me. I heard is wiz past my ear and then lodge itself into the dummy's head. _

_"Are you crazy?!" I screamed. "You almost shot me!" _

_"But I didn't."_

_"Well still…!"_

_"Look, you can either accept my advice, or you don't, but all I know is, I'm more skilled with weapons then you are. And I obviously just proved that." she stated pointing at the dummy with an arrow sticking out of its forehead. _

_"Well I have to admit...I'm pretty impressed, peasant." I said as I stood up and dusted myself off. _

_"It's Ria…" she mumbled. _

_"Ok, __**ree ahh.**__" I said over pronouncing her name on purpose. "If you teach me how to properly use my swords, then I'll be nice to you." I said. _

_ I suddenly felt my feet fly out from under me and I was lying on my back, my head spinning. Before I could even try to get up I felt a foot get placed firmly on my chest and when I looked up, I saw Ria standing over me pointing one of my swords at my neck. "I could so easily kill you right now if we were really fighting." She said. "But that wouldn't be fair, right? First lesson, Zuko, every life is of value, from the smallest ant to the fire nation's biggest enemy. Just be sure you know that." she told me as she let me up. _

_"Come on," I mumbled in anger. "Dinner is almost ready." _

_ "How did you two do playing outside?" Ursa said when we walked into the room. I didn't say anything as I plopped down next to Azula who sneered at me. I noticed Ria standing there, her loose black curls running down her back, she looked as if she felt out of place. "Ria, why don't you come sit next to Zuko and I?" Ursa said. She walked over and sat down. I hoped my gaze burned into her. I saw my father walk into the dining room. He sat down and the servents placed our food in front of us. We all began eating I looked over at Ria and passed her some hot sauce. "Here, put this on your food. It will make it taste better." I told her. I laughed to myself. This would so get her back for today. She popped the lid off and literally drenched her food in hot sauce. She took one small bite and her eyes got round. _

Here is comes…_ I thought as I pictured her screaming and freaking out about how hot the sauce was. To everyone's surprise she took the case of hot sauce and drank it. all of it! Straight from the bottle! Ursa and Iroh starred at her is horror as Ozai looked at her. To everyone's surprise he tilted his head back and let out a roar of laughter. Everyone else joined in until everyone was crying of laughter. _

_"My, Ria, I think you will fit in just fine here." Ozai said. As a response she burped out some smoke._

I stared down at Zhao. He had challenged me to an Agni Ki. I had him pinned the same way Ria pinned me. I stared down at him. How easy it would be to end him now, but I heard a voice in my head.

_First lesson, Zuko, every life is of value, from the smallest ant to the fire nation's biggest enemy. Just be sure you know that. _

I felt tears form in my eyes as I let Zhao up. He tried to attack me again from behind, but Uncle stepped in. I didn't even hear what he told him, I just went back to the ship. I slammed my door and didn't come out again until we left the port.

**Oh gosh guys, I feel like I'm doing a bad job for some odd reason! Please, please, please let me know if I'm doing a bad job! I will explain a lot of things in upcoming chapters. SO READ ON! AND REVIEW! THANKS!**

**I DO NOT OWN ATLA. **

**-Allie**


	4. Warriors and Dragons

Zuko

"We will be more ready next time!" I said as we sailed off from Kyshoi Island, still a little wet from the sea creature. "I won't let this happen again." I said as I practiced some of my firebending moves. "I _will_ restore my honor." I said with a grunt as I kicked a fire ball at one of the guards. Uncle just watched my moves in silence as I rambled on about how the next time we run across the avatar I will be more ready.

Soon enough I grew tired. I looked up into the starry night sky and realized that the moon was almost at its highest point. "I am going to bed." I decided and left to go to my room. I walked in and slipped off my shirt and crawled under the covers. I smiled as I thought of the six year old Ria coming into my room.

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_"Hi Zuko!" I heard the voice coming from down the hall. "Oh no…" I grumbled. I waited for her to catch up to me. "What do __**you**__ want?" I questioned. "I was just wondering if you wanted to play!" She said with a huge smile. I looked her up and down. She was standing there, her arms stuffed full of blankets. "Why? So I can watch you look stupid again like tonight when you drank a whole bottle of hot sauce?" I snapped. "If you're mad at me for tripping you today, I'm sorry." She said. "What stupid game do you want to play anyways… cartwheels?" I said with a sniff. "Ha! Cartwheels?! You really expect me to play that?!" Ria burst out. "I was thinking we could make a fort with these blankets and pretend we're in the fire nation army!" She proclaimed. I starred at her in awe. "Really? you don't like girly games, either?" I asked with joy. "Girly games are stupid!" she said, sticking her tongue out. I didn't want her to think I was excited, so I said, "Well, I guess we could because I have nothing else to do…" She laughed. "Ok let's go to your room!" _

_The next thing I know me and Ria are building the __**coolest**__ blanket fort ever. We both played fire warrior until we collapsed from sleep exhaustion. It was super late when I heard mother come pick up Ria and take her to her new room. Before she left my room she blew out the candle. My last thought before I let sleep take over me was: "Maybe having Ria around won't be so bad." _

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It had been a while since I got close to getting the Avatar. I had recently had yet another failed attempt involving pirates and trying to bribe that water tribe girl, Katara, with her necklace, but of course, they got away… again. I wanted to smash my head against the wall in frustration. What is the point anymore? I tried to calm down. I found myself going back into my childhood memories.

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_It was only Ria's fourth day at the palace, and she already was obsessed with the gardens. I walked out to see if she wanted to play again and I stopped dead in my tracks. I saw Ria sitting down, and a little bird was perched on her finger! The bird chirped something, and she chirped back! "WHOA!" I said in awe. _

_"Oh! Hi Zuko! I didn't hear you!" _

_"How are you doing that?!"_

_"Doing what?"_

_"How did you train that bird to come sit on your finger?"_

_"I didn't, it came to me" she stated._

_"Don't be ridiculous! Birds don't just sit on peoples fingers!" I said slightly annoyed. _

_"Well this one can, it just wanted to say hi." She said as she petted the little bird._

_"Birds don't talk, either!" _

_"Well this one does." She stated just as the little thing chirped. "See? Its saying 'Hi, Zuko! Be my friend!'" she said in a mock high pitched voice. I just rolled my eyes at her. "Sometimes, things aren't always as they seem." She said. Before I could ask what she meant, the little bird flew away, and we went off to play fire warriors. _

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Iroh 

I glanced at my nephew in sadness. Ever since Ria left he always had so much hate in his heart. Hate at his father, for banishing him, hate at Ria, for leaving him, I even think he has hate at himself, for what he did to her.

I thought back on some of the amazing memories him and Ria shared as children. _They used to love to dress up in those masks she got them for his seventh birthday. _I recalled with a smile. I couldn't help but let my mind wander off to when I found out what Ria really is, and how Zuko still doesn't know.

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_I looked at eight year old Zuko and soon to be eight year old Ria race around in the gardens. "Ha! Gotcha!" Zuko said as he threw a small flame ball at her. "Hey! No fair! Zuko knows I can't firebend!" She yelled. "Play nice you two!" I called to them. _

_ I definitely made the right decision on Ria coming to live here. She and Zuko were like two peas in a pod. I looked at them with satisfaction. I saw Azula walk up with her best friend, Michi. _

_ Michi was just about Azulas age, maybe a little younger. She had brown hair that was pulled back into two tight pig tails. She was just as evil as Azula, too. Azula had made it her plan to get a best friend like Zuko had gotten Ria. And of course she got what she wanted. I rolled my eyes as Azula and Michi walked up to Zuko and Ria. _

_"What are you two losers doing? "Michi said as if she owned the place. _

_"We're just playing fire warriors! Want to play?" Ria said with joy. _

_"No!" Azula and Michi said at the same time. _

_"Well what do you want then?!" Zuko snapped. _

_"We thought we could all play a game, much cooler than fire warriors." Azula laughed. _

_"Fine." Zuko mumbled. _

_The next thing I know Zuko is shoving Ria into the pond to stop fire from catching on her hair. Azula and Michi both walked away, screeching in laughter. Zuko was helping Ria out of the pond as I called out to them: "Are you guys ok?" Zuko was hot with anger, but Ria looked up at me and gave me the thumbs up. I couldn't help but laugh. They both dried off and continued playing their game._

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_It was late out, and I was walking down the hall towards my room. "New moon tonight." I thought to myself. I stopped and peaked in on Zuko, who was fast asleep. Ria had gone to bed early tonight, she said she wasn't feeling well. I thought I should go check in on her. Before I walked in, I heard the sound of something breaking come from her room. I ran up to the door. I slowly opened it, everything was dark. I closed the door behind me to make sure I wouldn't wake anyone. "Ria?" I asked. _

_ I saw a shadow move in her huge room I turned around fast to stare into the eyes of a young blue dragon. I stood shocked. It had eaten Ria! Before I could try and fight it or call for help, I looked into its eyes. "No…" I whispered. "It can't be…. Ria?" _

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**Hi! So I hope you guys are enjoying this. All this will explain itself in the next chapter! So keep reading! **

**Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of this story in the reviews! Thanks again!**

**-Allie **

**(I do not own ATLA) **

__**ALSO LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANY MISTAKES! THANKS SO MUCH!**


	5. Books and Masters

Iroh

_"This isn't happening." I thought as I stared into the huge cat- like eyes of the blue dragon. "Ria?" I asked again. The dragon's eyes seemed to be relived. It nodded once. "How… how is this even…?" I muttered as my head swam. The dragon… or Ria… moved around bringing a few things off the shelf. She dug around messily with her front foot until she came across what she was looking for. _

_She carefully picked up a huge book that was on one of the shelves. She gingerly carried it over to me and dropped it front of me with a loud thump. I sat down in front of it. I read the title out loud: "Fire Nation History" the book looked as if no one had touched it for years. She blew air out of her nose, causing the book to flip open. She pages whirled around until she came to the page she was looking for. Ria nudged the book towards me and after giving her a skeptical look I glanced down at it. _

_"The fire bending masters." I read aloud. "There are four different types of dragon, the red, which is the most common, the blue, the green, and the rarest seen is the yellow." I said as I looked at the four different pictures of the dragons. "Each dragon represents each element… without solid ground, fire won't burn for long, water is what contains the fire, and air breathes life into it." I thought about that for a moment. "It's like the seasons." I realized. "You need all of them to make up a year… even if some seasons are harsher than the others." I said with a sudden disappointment in my people for whipping out the air nomads. I looked up to see Ria's eyes full of pleasure that I know understood. _

_I continued on reading. "There are four dragon masters, one to represent each type of dragon. Each one is born already a master of fire, and is sacred to the fire nation. The masters are often called to give counsel to the fire lord." I looked up at Ria, who nodded and encouraged me to read on. _

_"The masters are born with the ability to change human. They do so to keep peace among the fire nation. Each master is born with a unique gift, and each cycle is different. The masters are found similar to the way we find the Avatar. The masters are born either human or dragon. Each one has an important role in keeping peace." I finished. I looked up at Ria. "So… you're the blue dragon master?" I said in awe. She nodded. _

_Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo_

_I waited with her until the sun rose over the mountains. As soon as it did she changed back into her eight year old self again. "I am confused…" I started. "So you are a dragon?" "I was born a human, but I have ability to change into a dragon. So I guess I'm half and half." She said as she tried to pick up a few things she knocked off her shelf. "You are a master then…" I mumbled, still trying to believe it. "Yeah, I was taken from my birth parents when I was only an infant. I grew up with the other masters, living as a dragon most of my life. We had to be kept a secret, seeing your people hunt us." I looked down in shame. "So that green dragon I killed when I first saw you…" I said remembering I thought it was going to attack her. "That was the green master, Taro." I felt awful. "I am so sorry…" was all I could say. "Don't be, you did not realize." She told me. _

_In the book, it said each dragon is born with a unique gift, what does that mean?" I questioned her. "Well, every dragon master is born with a unique gift, like my brother, the red dragon, has the ability to see into the future, but he could not tell anyone what he saw and he could not prevent the things from happening." She told me. "So what is your gift?" I asked. I can't miss, she said holding up her bow with a smile. It's nothing to special." Ria said. _

_"Iroh, I'm sorry you had to find out this way, but you__** cannot**__ tell anyone of this. The fact that dragons are not extinct must remain a secret for now. And the fact that I am a dragon has to remain a secret, too. Just for now." She told me in desperation. "Of course." I told her. "I am just having trouble wrapping my mind around this. So there are still dragons left?" I asked. "Yes, many dragons have taken to the mountains. Once this war is over, then the dragons will return." She said. "Alright, I will help you keep this secret safe." I told her. "Thank- you Iroh!" she said and threw her arms around me. _

_"I just have one more question." I said. "Why were you a dragon tonight? Couldn't you just stay human?" I asked. "Every new moon I have to change. I can't help it, I just do. No one is really sure why, either." She said looking down. "Alright, we will keep this to ourselves." I said as I glanced at her one more time. She nodded and we headed of for breakfast. _

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_In the years to come I would help Ria stay hidden every new moon. We would never bring it up to each other, and life continued on normally until she came to the age of 12. It was almost Zukos birthday; she came into my room late one night. "I have gotten word from my brother. He wants me to return." She said with a sad face. "Return? Already?" I said in shock. Zuko would not take this well. She nodded in sadness. "Alright." I mumbled in sadness, too. "We will send you off on a good night." I said. Zuko was already having trouble seeing his mom left. Ria leaving would be crushing for him. Ria looked down. "I am sorry, Iroh." She whispered._

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**Gah! You guys don't need to remind me of how bad this chapter sucked. All you really need to know is this.**

**1. There are four dragon masters.**

**2. Ria is one of them.**

**Ok! Sorry again about how bad I'm doing. BUT IT WILL GET LESS CONFUSING. Please review! I could really use some tips on how to make this better! I ALSO DO NOT OWN ATLA. **

**-Allie. **


	6. Rainbows and Necklaces

**Hi! So I thought I should let you know this chapter is pretty much a few of Rias major memories or growing up in the palace. I know that I am skipping around in the present time a lot, but I am pretty much just going to skim over book one seeing nothing is going to be really different, and if it is different, I will add it to the story. Sorry if I am being super confusing! If you have any questions, please let me know and I will try to answer them! Thank you so much for reading!**

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Ria

Iroh had found out about me. I actually felt better. I no longer felt so… alone. Every new moon he would take me out on a "camping trip." He also found out that I could fire bend on those trips, so when we would go we would practice.

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_"I didn't know you could firebend." He said as we set off on our first new moon trip. _

_"Well, I'm a fire breathing dragon, so yeah." I told him. _

_He laughed and said, "Ah, of course." _

_"Yeah, and you wanna know something cool?" I asked as I looked up at him. _

_"Of course!" he said with a smile. _

_I looked behind me to make sure no one was following us on the dirt path. "My fire is rainbow." I whispered as I made a small flame in the palm of my hand. _

_Iroh stared at it in awe. "That is truly amazing." He whispered back. _

_"Yeah, all the masters have rainbow fire." I told him. "We can really bend any color." I said as I changed the flame to just normal red, then blue, then green, then purple. _

_Iroh laughed as we continued our hike up the mountain. _

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Everything was going fine at the fire nation palace. Zuko and I were still best friends. We talked all the time about how we hated Michi and Azula, we always played fire warriors, and we trained together. People told us all the time that we're inseparable, which was true. We would stay up late and listen to Ursa tell us stories, we would go to the market together, we would mess play around with the animals in the garden, everything seemed perfect. Then Ursa left.

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_It was a new moon. Iroh had to take care of some things at the palace so we couldn't go out "camping." He told me to stay in my room and not come out. That was fine with me. I curled up and rested my chin on my front feet and fell asleep. _

_It wasn't until almost morning that I heard someone open the door. I saw Ursa walk in; I didn't even have time to hide. She looked at me. "So… It is true." She said. I stared at her in horror "Don't worry, Iroh didn't tell me." She said before I had time to blame him. I just looked at her. "I… I have to go…" she whispered. "I need you to promise me you'll take care of Zuko." She asked me with tears in her eyes. I was shocked. I wanted to badly to ask where she was going, but I couldn't. All I could do was nod. She reached up and kissed my forehead and walked out of the room. She looked back and all I could do was look at the kind woman who had taken me in and cared for as if I was her own child. She clicked the door shut._

_It wasn't until then that I wondered how she found out I was a dragon. _

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_It was a few months later when Zuko started acting like his old self again. No one really brought up Ursa, and it seemed better off that way. I tried being extra happy around Zuko. Azula and Michi would sometimes bring her up, but I would make them quickly shut up. One day Michi and Azula walked up to us._

_"Hey guys," Michi said. "I was just talking to my __**mom."**__ She said looking at Zuko. "She said Ursa didn't love you guys, and that's why she left." I looked over at Zuko and saw his eyes fill with tears. _

_"Shut up, Michi." I snapped._

_"Make me." She said with a huff._

_She walked up to Zuko and said, "Ursa never loved you, if she did she would have stayed." _

_That drew the line for me. I grabbed her hair and shoved her into the pond. She screamed in shock and tried to lash out at me. I grabbed her fist right before it made contact with my face and twisted her arm behind her back. She cried out in pain and I shoved her from behind face first into the pond. I held her under water for a split second, just long enough for her to realize I could drown her, before I let her up. She was dripping wet._

_"How dare you?!" she screamed at me. _

_"Well you said make me." I said coldly. _

_Azula was even trying not laugh as Michi stumbled out of the pound. "Come on, Michi, let's get out of here." Azula said._

_"Here me know, Ria," Michi said, her voice shaking with fury. "I will be sure you __**suffer**__ for this." She said pointing a finger at me before she turned around and stormed off. _

_Me and Zuko waited until she was out of sight until we just about died of laughter. _

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_It was my twelfth birthday when I heard a knock on my door. "Come in!" I said as I was brushing my loose, curly, jet black hair. _ _I saw Zuko walk in from the corner of my mirror. "Oh! Hi, Zuko!" I said as he stepped in, his arms behind his back. "Whatcha got, there?" I asked skeptically. He smiled and said: "Remember those masks you got us for my birthday?" I laughed. "Ha! How could I forget! We play with them every single day!" _

_"Well I wanted to give __**you**__ the coolest birthday present ever, now." _

_"Normally we wait until after dinner to present the gifts." I said with a laugh._

_"Well I couldn't wait!" he laughed again. "Ok, close your eyes." _

_I laughed and closed my eyes. _

_"Ok, here." _

_ I felt him put something light in my hands. "Alright, open." I did. It was a cute little necklace. It had had of the yin yang symbol. It was the white one with the black dot. I looked up at Zuko. He had one too. It was the black side with the white dot. "Oh it's beautiful! I'll never take it off!" I said and put it around my neck. "I have the other half." He said with pride. I laughed. "Thank- you, Zuko!" I said. "Sure." He replied. With that we both walked off towards the gardens. _

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_It was a week before Zukos thirteenth birthday when I heard someone tap on my door. I opened a door to see a servant standing there, holding a letter for me on a little silver tray. "For you, Ms. Ria." He said. I thanked him and grabbed the letter. "Strange," I said out loud. "I never really get letters." I opened it up and read this: _

Ran,

It is time for you to return home. It is safer now, and you are needed here. Come home as soon as possible. Do not take anything, just the bow, the flute, and the bag. I will wait your return.

-Shaw.

_I felt my heart sink. What about Zuko? With sadness I went to Uncles room and told him what happened. He told me we would wait for a good night to send me off. I felt tears brim in my eyes as I walked back to my room and feel into a troubled sleep. _

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_It was the perfect night for me to leave. It was very foggy, so no one would see me. There was just one down side, it was Zukos birthday. Iroh helped me collect my things. He looked sad, too. "Are you sure this is all you will take?" Iroh asked me. I felt if I would talk, I would burst into tears, so I just nodded. We finished putting my things away. I went and grabbed the old book from the shelf and put it in Irohs arms. "Don't forget me, ok?" I whispered. "I wouldn't dream of it." he said with another small smile. _

_ I went off to go say goodbye to Zuko. He had no idea I was leaving. "Zuko?" I said as I walked into his room. Hee looked up from a new book he had gotten. "Hi!" he said with a smile. I felt tears start to run down my face. "What's wrong?" he asked as he set the book down. "Zuko, I have to go." I managed to get out. "Go? Go where?" he asked. "I have to go back to my original home." _

_"What?" he said in shock. "So you're just going to leave me? Like mother?" _

_"Zuko, if I had a choice, I would stay." I tried to tell him._

_"You do have a choice! Please! Stay here with me!" he begged. _

_I started backing up. "I have to…"_

_"You can't just leave! You need to stay here! If you go, I'll have no one!" he screamed. _

_"Iroh will be here." I told him as I opened the door. "He will take care of you." I walked down the hall and out into the foggy night, Zuko following with Iroh close behind. _

_"Ria! If you leave now, then that means you don't care about me. If that's what you want, then go!" he cried. _

_I looked back once, tears streaming down my face. I didn't say anything as I turned around and ran until the fog swallowed me. _

_"Ria!" I heard Zuko scream. "RIA!" _

_I forced myself to keep running. Soon I spread my wings and flew, I kept going even when I could no longer hear Zukos voice. _

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**BAM. Longest chapter so far! :D I really hope I'm doing ok. Thank you guys for Reviewing! And again, please let me know how I can make this story better! Thanks a million!**

**-Allie**


	7. Apples and Peace

**Hi! I really hope you guys are enjoying this. I kind of don't like the title of this story, so if any of you think of a better title, let me know! **

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I had just gotten the avatar away from Commander Zhao. I was wearing the mask Ria had given me. We were so close to getting out but we came short of the wall and fell. The avatar jumped in front of me and used airbending to block the fire the guards shot at us.

"Wait! We need the avatar alive!" I heard Zhao say. Without any forethought or hesitation I crossed my swords over Aangs neck. I heard Zhao give the order to open the gates. We both slowly started backing up. We were almost there when I felt something make contact with my face. And everything went black.

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I woke up to the avatar sitting next to me. "You know what the worst part is about being born a hundred years ago is?" he asked me without even looking at me. I didn't answer and instead took in my surroundings. We were in a forest. I was on a small pile of leaves, my mask was off. _Well there goes my cover. _I thought. I looked at the avatar. "I miss all my friends I used to hang out with." He said. "Before the war started, I used to visit my friend, Kuzon… the two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the fire nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends too?" his eyes were hopeful.

"Sorry, but that can't happen." I said as I got up and started walking away.

"Before you go back to hunting me down, hear me out." He told me before I could go any further. "You need to find your own path, and do what _you_ think is right. Don't capture me because it's what your father would want. I mean, do you really think this war will get any of us anywhere?" he questioned.

I didn't answer. I walked back to my ship.

"Zuko, you missed music night!" Iroh proclaimed once I made it back. "Jee played a stirring love song." He said as he lifted his hand and swung it gracefully.

"I will be in my room, do not disturb me." I said and slammed the door shut.

I found myself thinking back on the little things about her, the things I took for granted. Her strange pale blue eyes, her long soft black hair, and the way she laughed. My head swam with emotions. Ria had left me, she didn't even look back. She deserved what happened. She deserved to die. If she truly cared about me, she would have found another way. My mind brought me back to the last time I ever saw her. It was only a few months after my banishment, that plus her leaving me had filled my heart with much hate…

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_Uncle and I had pulled our ship up to small Fire Nation Island. I looked around. "What I dump." I muttered as we walked through the market place. "Zuko, show some respect." Uncle told me. In response I rolled my eyes. I looked at a small fruit stand and grabbed an apple. That's when I spotted it. I starred at the girl, even from looking at her from behind, she looked just like her. But it couldn't be… her loose curly hair was shiny, and it ran down most of her back. She was taller, about an inch smaller than me. She had the same agile looking body, slim and long. The only thing that was different was that she had more... of a female body. She turned around. And then I knew without a doubt that it was true. She had her same beautiful smooth fire nation face, but her un- natural pale blue eyes._

_ I swallowed and shoved my uncle. "Ow!" he cried as he tripped and spilled a bit of his drink. "Uncle," I mumbled, not taking my eyes off her. "That's Ria." I said and nodded in her direction. "Don't be silly, you are just seeing things." He said as he looked over. As soon as he did his jaw hit the floor. "Oh, I guess that does look like her." He decided. Instead of feeling joy, I felt burning anger in me. Without thinking I marched up to her. I looked to make sure no one was watching before I covered my hand over her mouth and dragged her to where no one could see us. _

_ I let he go and she whirled around to face me. Her face turned from anger to shock as she starred at me. "Zuko…?" she whispered._

_"It's been a while…" I said gruffly. _

_She stood there, not knowing what to do. Finally she said, "I… I thought I would never see you again." _

_"Well obviously you didn't want to." I snapped, the emotions boiling inside. "Ever since you left, I always thought about what I would say to you if we ever ran across each other again. And now here we are, and I don't even want to look at you." I spat. _

_Her eyes filled with tears. "Zuko, you don't understand." _

_"Obviously I don't." I snapped. "You obviously didn't care about me the way I thought you did. I thought we were friends, but you obviously proved me wrong when you left without a second glance. So now you know, now you know that ever since you hurt me, I didn't miss you, I always hated you, I hated the fact you left me broken and didn't even care."_

_"How can you say that?" she cried. "I left because I had to! I didn't have a choice!" she snapped. _

_"There is always a choice!" I yelled at her. "You could have at least told my why you had to go! That would have made it a little less horrible for me!" _

_"If I told you it would put you in danger!" she yelled back. _

_"I'm sure I could handle it!" I spat._

_ I started to storm back to my ship, I never wanted to see the likes of her again. I saw Iroh looking at us as I was marching back. I felt her grab my arm. "Zuko! Please! Let's tal-" _

_I cut her off and did the unthinkable. _

_ I slapped her. Right across the face. It wasn't a small one, either. It was hard enough to send her to the ground. She looked up at me in shock. "I never want to see your pathetic face again." I hissed. She held her hand over her eye, blood dripping out from between her fingers. I looked into the eyes of fear and pain, and I suddenly felt like my father, when he had burned my eye. _What have I turned into? _I thought in shock. I reached out, and suddenly her eyes changed to pure hatred. _

_"This is what I get for trying to protect you?!" She cried. "I hope I never see the likes of you again! Now leave!" _

_"Ria-"_

_"I hope you rot…" she hissed through clenched teeth. _

_I looked at her in horror. I just looked at her one last time and walked back to my ship. Iroh came back sometime later; he was probably was talking to her. I didn't want to hear about it. I ordered the ship to leave; Uncle gave his head a disappointed shake. We left and I didn't look back. _

_Iroh_

_I found them in just enough time to see Zuko slap her. I saw her say something and Zuko stormed off back to the ship. I helped her stand up and looked at her eye. "Hi, Iroh." She said with a small smile. "It's been a while." She said with a laugh as I dabbed at the deep cut that went down her eye. I smiled. "Two years, actually." I said. "And my, have you gotten beautiful." I said as I looked at her. "Thanks" she said with another small smile. _

_"Listen, we don't have much time to catch up, my brother has given me a warning. He wanted me to come back because Ozai is on to my secret." She told me. "Ozai also suspects that Zuko is in on it, too. He doesn't know what, but he knows we are hiding something." I looked at her. "That is why we must fake my death." She said without emotion. "What?" I whispered. "Listen, the main reason I left was because Ozai started to get skeptical of Zuko. He still is. And he will do whatever it takes to learn our 'powerful secret'" she quoted. "There is no time for questions. Take this letter, it is written out like It is from my brother saying I died from a sickness. Zuko must believe it. It is for his own protection." She finished. All I could do was nod. _

_"I have to go before I get spotted." She said as she was about to run off._

_ "Wait! How did you know to meet us here?" I questioned. _

_"My brother, duh." She said as she rolled her eyes. I smiled. I was glad to see she still had her old wit. _

_"Goodbye, Ria." I said. _

_"Trust me, Iroh; this will not be the last time we meet." She said before running off into the woods._

_I believed her. _

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Zuko

I had sat there, letting the avatars words sink in. I could no longer see any hope. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to regain my honor, I didn't even want to go home if there was nothing to go home to. My father is a cruel man, who doesn't even give a second thought about harming his own children. I no longer wanted to represent people like him. I suddenly remembered what Ria had told me a long time ago when we were children.

_I had just finished saying how stupid the earth kingdom was when Ria looked at me with disappointment. _

_"Zuko, the elements are like the seasons." She stated. "Some may be different than others, but if you don't have one, you can't make up a year." I looked at her, not really knowing what she meant. I just rolled my eyes and we kept playing. _

I understood know, there shouldn't have to be dominant element. I no longer wanted to represent my father. I found myself thinking about the avatar. It was time for me to join him.

I went up on deck and found my uncle. I told him what I had come to realize and I braced myself for him to yell at me. Instead he smiled. We both discussed what we would do, and came to a decision. I pulled out my blade and cut off my fire nation pony tail.

The time for peace has come.

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**Oh gosh, am I rushing through this? I really hope not. LET ME KNOW IF I AM. I think it'll get easier when I start following the episodes. But Zuko is good sooner in this story! Yyaaayyy! **

**PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! THANK YOU!**

**I DON'T OWN ATLA.**

**-Allie**


	8. Letters and Ropes

**Ok! So I was trying to think of a new title…. Brace yourselves. RAINBOW FIRE! EEEHHHH?! Cause she bends… rainbow fire… Yeah I'll work on it. -_- ok! So Zuko is good now! Yay! Seriously guys… if you think I'm doing something wrong, please tell me! I feel like I might be rushing through this. So please oh please tell me if I am doing anything wrong! Any who! Enjoy the chapter! **

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Zuko- one year ago. 

I stood on the deck, looking out over the empty sea that was before me, the waves gently rocking the small fire nation vessel that had been my home since my banishment. I breathed in the salty air as I thought back two months prior of now, when I had last seen Ria. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my uncle's footsteps walking up to me.

"Zuko, I… I have a letter for you." He stated.

"Alright." I mumbled, not in the mood to talk. "Put it in my room, I will read it latter."

"Of course, nephew." He said and walked off.

I practiced some moves with my swords. I loved the soft sound of the metal slicing through the air. It brought me a sense of calm. I did some more of my moves before I grew tired. I looked up into the sun that was setting underneath the ocean, and I decided to turn in early without eating.

I went down the ships hall until I came to my room. I saw the letter sitting on my bed. I had nearly forgotten about it. It lay there; it seemed to be already read by uncle. I picked it up and un- rolled it, my eyes slowly reading the print. My stomach dropped.

_No… _I thought in shock. _She can't be dead. _I ran down the hall to uncles room and threw open his door. "Ria is dead?!" I screamed as his head shot up from my entrance. "This can't be right." I snapped as I re- read the scroll. "Zuko, she passed some time ago, I just couldn't find the right time to tell you." He said as if it wasn't a big deal. I looked at him. "And you didn't tell me?!" I snapped. "Well I don't see why you should care, you said you hated her." I was so taken aback by his response, I couldn't even say anything. "How… how dare you think you know what I thought of her!" I screamed at him. He didn't even look up.

"How long." I whispered, my voice shacking in frustration and anger.

"How long what?" Uncle said, not even opening his eyes.

"How long has she been dead, you ignorant fool!" I spat at him.

"She became ill right after we left so about a month and a half ago."

Without saying another word I walked swiftly back to my room. As soon as I entered I slammed my fist into the wall. Regret washed over me as I realized our last memory was me slapping her, and her telling me to rot. I smashed my fist into the metal wall again, and again, and again, until a huge dent was formed and my knuckles were bleeding. I sat down on my bed with a grunt. I couldn't even feel sad, all I felt was angry at myself.

_No, don't let yourself feel this way. She deserved this. She let you feel abandoned. She left you without a second thought. _I told myself. The words didn't make me feel any better, though. I felt the chain around my neck and realized it was the necklace I had made years ago. I pulled it off with a small tug. I opened up a cabinet and put it in. I slammed the door shut. _Just forget her._ I thought.

But of course, I couldn't.

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Zuko- present time. 

It had been a few weeks since I made the decision to leave. Uncle and I had made a plan for me to go finD the avatar. Of course it involved faking my death. My hair had grown so that it was now a starting to hang in my face a little. Iroh agreed he would go back and live at the fire nation. It was time for me to leave.

I only packed a bag of small things, my blue spirit mask included. I looked in the last cabinet to make sure there was nothing to important I could miss. I was just about to close it when I felt something land in my lap. I looked down to see the old necklace. I smiled as I slipped it on.

I meet uncle in his room as we said our goodbyes. We hugged and he whispered to me, "Sometimes, Zuko, people do things that seem like a bad idea, but are really better in the long run." I didn't say anything, I just nodded. "We will see each other again Uncle. That I can promise. He smiled.

We both made our way up to the deck. It was dark out seeing it was late at night. I stopped by one of the life boats and climbed in. Uncle and I embraced one last time before he lowered me into the water. The shore was only a little ways off. I was just starting to float away into the darkness when I heard uncle yell, "Help! Zuko has fallen over board!"

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I had made it to shore safe. I grabbed my bag out of the boat and immediately set the boat on fire, erasing the fact that it had ever been there. I started making my way to the small village; there I heard that the avatar was in the Northern Water Tribe. I started making my way to find the avatar again, but this time, I was looking for him with a different attitude.

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It had been about a month when I heard the news about the attack on the Water tribe. I was on the shores that lead to the water tribe, so I expected to find them here. I made a small camp off the beach. I left my stuff hidden and went to small town to buy some food while I waited when; I saw a sign that said the following:

_Breaking new; Fire lord Ozais son died at sea. Body has yet to be found. Ozai is said to be crushed over the loss of his only son. _

I laughed and rolled my eyes as I paid for the fruit I had bought. _Like he cares. _I thought bitterly.

I made my way back to the camp I set up. I waited for a little while more when I saw the avatar. He was on his bison. He and his friends landed close to where I was. I saw them get off and start to set up their camp for the night. I breathed in and out, trying to stay calm. _How am I going to do this…?_ I thought to myself. I took one more breath and then walked out before I could change my mind.

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Katara 

"Let's land here for the night, Appa looks tired." I stated as Appa groaned in approval. "Ok!" Aang chirped in happiness before landing on the small beach. We all slid off the huge creature and started setting up our camp just as the sun was setting. I looked back out over the ocean. It felt good knowing I had officially learned water bending.

I looked over at the guys, just as I did so Sokka let out a _huge_ burp. Aang burst out into laughter as I moaned.

"Sokka!" I cried. "Ugh! What I would give if we could have a girl on our crew." I proclaimed in anger as Aang was pulling himself together. I just rolled out my sleeping bag when I heard someone walk out of the forest. All three of us looked up as we saw Zuko.

"Zuko!" I cried as I took my waterbending stance.

Sokka ripped out his boomerang and Aang took his airbending stance as we all looked at him.

"I'm not here to fight." He simply said as he raised his arms in surrender.

"What do you want!?" Sokka yelled at him.

"I want to join you." he bluntly said.

There was a long awkward silence until Sokka skeptically said, "Riiiggghhhtttt."

"It's true; the avatar needs a firebending teacher at some point, right?"

"Well we don't need to worry about that for a while yet." I said as I stuck my nose in the air.

"Aang, ever since you talked to me that one night, I realized what path I need to take, and that path is to help you end this war."

"Wait! When did you talk to Zuko?!" Sokka pointed at Aang.

"That doesn't matter." Aang said quickly.

"How can we be sure you're not lying?" I snapped, changing the subject.

"If you don't believe me, you can take me in as your prisoner." He said as he held out his wrists.

"We can't trust this guy!" Sokka yelled. "Are you forgetting he chased us around the globe?"

"I… I think we can trust him." Aang said as he looked at Zuko.

"Are you kidding me?!" Sokka threw his arms up in frustration.

"Come on, guys, I think he's serious." Aang looked at us. "And we might not have the opportunity to find me another firebending teacher!"

Me and Sokka let that sink in.

"FINE!" Sokka said after a moment's thought. "But the only way I'll let it happen is if we keep him bound the first few days, just to be sure he won't try anything…" He said as he shot Zuko a warning glance.

"How can you guys be saying this?!" I practically screamed. "He stole my necklace!"

"Don't worry, Katara! We'll be sure he means it!" Aang chirped.

I mumbled something under my breath as Sokka went up to Zuko and tied his arms tightly in rope. We made a fire and all sat around it. Zuko was awkwardly sitting there as I cast him hateful glances.

"I'll take first watch." Sokka said, again looking Zukos way.

Me and Aang climbed into our sleeping bags, before I closed my eyes I heard Aang say with a smile,

"I'm glad you changed your mind."

Zuko nodded.

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**Am I doing ok? Gah! I feel like I'm moving through this too fast. **

**D:**

**BUT DON'T WORRY. It should be way better seeing I will base everything off the episodes now. TELL ME IF YOU GUYS ARE THINKING THIS STORY IS OK! And again, it should get better now. **

**:D**

**I DON'T OWN ATLA.**

**-Allie **


	9. The Firebending Masters

Ria

I sat in my cave. Ever since I returned I had found out that people called the sun warriors know of our existence. They practically worship us, which is weird. Me and my brother found a new mountain to live on, one that was huge and looked like a bowl, it was right near the sun warriors. The old masters used to live here, but had to move once the war broke out. Me and Itsuki decided to come back. We felt proud that at least some firebenders kept to the old ways.

I sat on my side of the mountain, starring into the eyes of my mask I used to wear when I would play with Zuko. That and the necklace were the only things I snuck back with me. Itsuki would kill me if he found out. I didn't even hear him enter my cave.

"Hey, Ran," he said using the name I more so went by. "I was just wondering if-"

"What? Nothing! Uhhh…. I was just… POTATO." I yelled as I shoved the mask behind my back.

"Um… ok…?" he said as he raised an eyebrow. "I was just coming in to see if you wanted to go hunting tonight."

"Oh! Yeah, that sounds fine!" I said realizing I hadn't eaten since forever.

He left my cave as I got ready to go hunting. I looked outside to see the sun setting over the mountains. I pulled my mask out from behind my back. I couldn't help but smile at it. I let the memories of me and Zuko playing warriors come back to me. After a second I put the mask back and met my brother outside the cave. We both changed back into our dragon form and flew off to go hunt.

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Zuko

It had been a few days since I had joined the avatar. I could tell that the two from the water tribe still didn't like the idea of me being here, but Aang was all for it. Nonetheless, I was no longer required to be in chains. We were trying to make our way to one of the earth kingdoms; we still had about a day's travel.

"I'll make a fire." I said as we jumped off the huge hairy beast called Appa.

"Who put you in charge?!" Katara snapped at me.

"Well if you want to make the fire, then by all means…" I said as I gestured with my hands towards the pile of wood. She gave a humph as she went to go get water by the stream.

"Hey, Zuko!" I heard Aang call. "Why don't you show us some of your firebending moves?" He asked.

"Alright, but you'll have to stand back, I don't want you to get burned." All three of them took a few steps back.

I collected myself and breathed in a relaxing breath. I gracefully moved my folded hands down before I thrust my right arm out with a grunt. I expected to see I huge burst of flames, but all I got was a small spark.

I heard Sokka snort. "Wow, Zuko, impressive."

I shot him a warning glance. "I'm just warming up." I said as I tried to remain calm.

I tried again, and again, and again, but I still got nothing.

"What is this? This has got to be the worst firebending I've ever seen!" I proclaimed in anger.

"I thought it was… nice!" Aang said.

I tried again, but only managed a small flame. "UGH! Why is this happening!?" I shouted in anger.

"Umm… maybe it's the altitude!" Aang said, trying to look on the positive side.

"Yeah, it could be." I said as I turned away.

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I kept trying most of the afternoon; I was getting so frustrated at this point.

"Just breath and-"

Still nothing.

"That one felt a little warm!" Aang said.

"Don't patronize me! You know what it's supposed to like like!" I yelled at him.

"Sorry, Sifu hotman."

"And stop calling me that!" I yelled as I thrust my arm in anger.

Sokka walked up, taking a bite of an apple. "Still trying to bend?" he questioned.

"Get out of here!"

"OK! Take it easy, I was just messing around!" He said as he walked off.

I slumped my shoulders, disappointed in myself.

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It was late at night when I saw the rest of the group sit down to eat dinner. I walked up to the trio and said: "Listen everybody, I've got some bad news, I lost my stuff."

"You're… stuff?" Katara questioned.

"I mean my firebending… its gone." I lowered my head.

"You mean you lost it?" Sokka said.

"No, it's not lost, it's just weaker than it normally is." I said quietly.

We all sat in quietness for a moment, taking in what was happening.

"I bet it's because I changed sides!" I realized.

"Yeah! Maybe your firebending came from rage!" Aang proclaimed. "You just don't have enough anger to fuel it like you used to!"

"Sooo…" Sokka said, popping out from nowhere. "All we have to do is make Zuko angry? easy enough!" he stated as he poked Zuko around with a stick, laughing as he did it.

"Alright, enough!" I yelled, causing him to fall over. "Look! Even if you're right, I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way." I said as I grabbed my forehead in frustration.

"You have to go to the original source!" Aang said in realization. "Like how the air nomad's source was the Skybision!"

"Well that doesn't help me… the original fire benders were the dragons, they went extinct." I said without emotion.

"What do you mean? Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid." Aang stated.

"Well they aren't around anymore, Ok?!" I snapped at him.

"OK, ok. Sorry." Aang raised his hands in defense.

"But… maybe there is another way…" I muttered. "The first people to learn of the dragons were the ancient sun warriors."

"Sun warriors? Well I know they weren't around when I was a kid."

"No… they died off many years ago, but there civilization isn't too far from here, maybe we could learn something by poking around the ruins."

"The monks used to tell me this; sometimes the shadows of the past can be filled by the present."

"Sooo what?" Sokka said, butting into our conversation. "You might pick up some super old sun warrior energy just by standing were they stood a thousand years ago?"

"More or less, either I find my firebending, or the avatar needs to find a new teacher."

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Aang and I had been flying over the ocean for a while when I muttered, "We've been riding for hours. I don't know why, but I thought this thing would be a lot faster."

The bison moaned in protest.

"Appas right, Zuko, we normally like to start our missions out with a more upbeat attitude!" Aang chirped.

"I can't do this." I muttered as I laid my head back in frustration.

"Don't worry! You'll get the hang of it!" he said joyfully. "Can I ask you a question?" he said, changing the subject.

"I guess."

"Who's Ria?" he flat out said.

"What?! Where did you hear that?!" I cried as my head shot up.

"You talk in your sleep." He said with a shrug.

I moaned. "Ria is a girl I knew growing up with."

"Really? Were you two friends?" He smiled.

"We were best friends."

"What was she like?"

I smiled as her face filled my mind. "She was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. She had long black hair that she always let fall loose on her shoulders. It was black hair, so black that in certain sunlight it looked almost a dark blue. And it was soft." I remembered. "Her face was soft and beautiful and kind. It reminded me so much of my mother. She had these amazing blue eyes, which would sparkle when she laughed.

The next thing I knew, I was laughing and telling the avatar stories from my childhood. I didn't even know what came over me.

"She could fight better than I could." I said as I thought back to all those times she had pinned me to the floor. "But she had such a kind heart. I always thought that we… we would be together forever." I smiled sadly.

"What happened?" Aang asked.

"Sickness got her." I mumbled as the vision of her left my mind.

"It's amazing how different you act when you talk about her…" Aang said.

I smiled. "That's what happens when you're in love, kid."

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We landed at the old ruins of the sun warrior's old home. After some booby-traps and a trick I played on with the sunlight, we finally found what we were looking for. We walked into the room that was filled with statues. Aang jumped.

"Relax! They're just statues." I said as I walked into the dusty room.

"It says this is something called the dancing dragon." Aang said as he bent over to read what was on one of them." I kept looking around the dark room. Next thing I know Aang is zooming up to me.

"Zuko, get over here!" he cried as he grabbed my arm. "I want you to dance with me." He said as if it were the most normal thing on the face of the planet.

"What?!" I cried as I shook him off my arm.

"Just do it!" he cried as he dragged me off.

"uggg." I said as I looked up at the statue of a man striking a pose.

"Let's follow the steps of the statues." He said.

I did as he said and I felt a tile go down once I had shifted my weight. "Don't you see? These aren't dance moves; they're giving us a lesson." Aang said as we moved around in a big half circle.

"This better teach us some really good firebending." I said as I did the next step.

Aang and I came to the last move when we heard a click; we turned around in just enough time to see a pedestal rise from the ground.

"Hooray!" Aang said in joy. "Wait, what exactly is that?"

"It's some kind of gem stone…" I said as I ran up to the golden thing that sat on top of the stand.

"Well don't touch it!"

"Why not?"

"Remember what happened out there with the spikes? I'm just very suspicious of giant glowing gems."

With that I picked it up. "It feels… almost alive…!" before either of us could react, we found ourselves both stuck up on an air vent.

We had sat there for a while, when Aang said, "You had to pick up the glowing egg, didn't you?"

"Well at least I made something happen! If it were up to you, we wouldn't have made it past the court yard!"

"HHHEEEELLLLPPPPP!" Aang screamed.

"Who are you yelling to? No one's lived here in centuries!"

"Well… what do you think we should do?"

"Think about our place in the universe?" Was all I would come up with.

We sat in silence.

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A lot seemed to happen in a short amount of time… we had sat in silence for a while, discovered that the sun warriors were still alive, and now we were going off to meet these firebending masters, Ran and Shaw. They're apparently going to, "Read our hearts and souls and ancestry." And then decide if we're worthy enough to be taught the true ways of firebending. Now Aang and I were carrying flames up the mountain. I both finally made it to see the sun warriors already there.

I looked around at the huge bowl shaped mountain, stairs led to small bridge that connected two dents in the rock.

"Facing the judgment of the firebending masters will be very dangerous for you." the tribe leader said. "Your ancestors are responsible for the war and the dragons disappearance." He said as he looked at me.

"But once they find out I'm the avatar…" Aang said.

"Have you forgotten you vanished for a hundred years? You are responsible too!" he said.

He slammed his staff down.

"We could turn back now; we already learned more about firebending than we had hoped." Aang said as he held up the small flame.

"No, we're seeing this through till the end." I replied. "We're gonna face these masters and find out what so great about them." I said with a smirk.

"What if they judge us, and don't think we're worthy?" Aang asked.

"We're the avatar and the fire nation prince, I think we can take 'em." I said as I pulled my swords part way out of the seethe.

"Bring them out!" I cried.

Suddenly all the warriors started beating on drums to a beat that made the whole situation more intense, all the people bowed down as me and Aang started walking up the steps, holding our flames.

"Those who wish to meet the masters will now present the fire." Me and Aang gave each other one last look before we held out fire out. "Sound the alarm!" I felt the earth lurch beneath my feet.

"What happening?" Aang said as he whirled around to look my way. I heard him gasp.

"Zuko! My fire went out!"

"Well what do you want me to do?" I whispered.

"Give me some of yours!" he cried as he reached up and tried to grab some.

"No! Just make some more!" I snapped as I dodged his reaching hands.

"I can't!" he cried as he again tried to reach for it.

I tried to hold it up out of his reach as we stood up on the huge bridge.

"Get some from the warriors, quick!" I yelled.

"Stop cheating off me!" I yelled.

"Quit being stingy!"

I again tried to hold the fire out of his reach; I suddenly dropped the flame as it died out.

We again felt the ground shake.

"Uh- oh." We both said as the same time the words barely left tour mouth when a flash of red swirled out of the mountain with a shriek. I could barely process it as the huge beast flew around where me and Aang stood.

I suddenly saw another flash, of blue this time, and that dragon also started circling around us also, we had no place to run.

"These are the masters…" I said in awe as I stared up at them gracefully flowed through the wind.

"Still think we can take 'em?" Aang whispered at me.

"Shhh! I never said that!" I told him.

I managed to steal a glance and look down at the sun warriors, who bowed to the ground.

My eyes looked back the creatures circling us… they almost seemed to be… before I could even say it I heard Aang say: "Zuko, I think were supposed to do the dragon dance with them."

"What?" I said, slightly annoyed. "What about this situation would make you think they wanted us to dance?"

"Well… I think they want us to do something."

I mumbled, not sure what else to do.

"Fine."

Me and Aang both started dancing, and I was amazed to see the blue dragon dancing alongside with me, gracefully flowing with my movements. I kept dancing; I managed to see the red dragon going along side of Aang.

We came to the last pose; the dragons hovered in the sunset sky, looking at us. I faced the blue one; the avatar faced the red one.

I felt myself shaking with fear as I looked into the eyes of the blue one, a long scar going down its left eye, it face wrinkled up into a snarl; something about those eyes, they seemed… familiar.

Before I could even think about it, the dragon hooked its claws into the bridge me and Aang stood on. We couldn't even react before flames erupted around us.

We both screamed, but when I looked up, I saw beautiful rainbow fire surrounding us. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I whispered, "I understand now."

The flames ceased and the dragons flew back into the caves in one swift motion, I only got one last glance at the beautiful blue dragon before it disappeared. Aang and I walked back down to meet the sun warriors.

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"They fire was beautiful," I thought as the image of it ran through my head again. "I saw so many colors…" I said in awe.

"Yes, they judged you, and gave you visions of the meaning of firebending."

"But… my uncle said he killed the last dragon." I muttered.

"He said that to protect them." The leader said.

"All this time… I thought firebending was destruction, since I hurt Katara, I've been to afraid. But now I know what it really is… its energy… and life."

We nodded and before we could do anything, the warriors started shaking in fear; many dropped what they were holding and fell down to their knees. We looked at the leader, and he too fell to his knees in a bow. Aang and I looked up; I saw the silhouette of a girl walking down the steps. I coulnt see her clearly, seeing the sun was blocking her. Me and Aang bowed, not knowing what else to do.

Soon the girl was standing right in front of us; I could only see her shoes seeing my head was bowed.

"Master Ran!" cried the leader. "The mighty blue dragon! You have taken your human form!" he cried in shock.

"So, you're the avatar." I heard the all too familiar voice say from above me. "Well I will be joining you on your quest for peace."

Both our heads shot up.

"No…" I said, my voice shaking. "It can't be…" I said as I looked into those deep blue eyes.

"Ria?"

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**I totally hope you guys like this! I'm going on vacation, so I won't be up dating for a while. Read and review, please! Thank you guys! **

**I DO NOT OWN ATLA.**

**-Allie**


	10. Questions and Fainting

Ria.

Zuko, Aang, and I all sat on the flying bison as we headed back towards the other two people that were also on our mission for peace. Zuko and I sat on the saddle awkwardly. I tried to sit as far from him as possible. I still held anger in my heart for the words we exchanged years ago. I tried not make eye contact. I could tell he felt awful. I just wanted to get through this without having anything to do with him.

I cast him a bitter glance and I unconsciously held my hand over the eye he had slapped, it now had a long scar that ran down it. Zuko looked down in sadness. I felt myself wanting to talk to him… to maybe try and be friends again. But then I remembered the slap, and the hateful words he said. He said them as if I were nothing to him… I felt the burning anger rise in my chest.

Before I could let the furry consume me, I heard Aang chirp up.

"It's so cool that we have a dragon in our group!" he said with a huge grin. "What's it like being a dragon"

"Pretty cool, I guess." I shrugged.

"What's it like when you change?"

"I don't know, its normal for me."

"Where do all your clothes go?"

"That's a good question…"

"Can you bend rainbow fire?"

"Yup."

"What's the coolest color you bend?"

"All of them."

"How high do you fly?"

"I'm not sure."

"Does it hurt when you breathe fire?"

"Not really."

"What's in that pouch?"

"My bow and arrows."

"You shoot?"

"Yup."

"So are you really one of the last dragons?"

"No, they're all just in hiding."

"What do you do if-"

"Gah! Do you ever shut up!?" Zuko snapped.

For the first time in a while a laughed. I real laugh. I sighed and leaned my head back. This was going to be the start of a new adventure.

I watched the sky as it seemed to melt until it turned black. My eyes grew heavy and I let myself fall into a deep sleep.

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Zuko.

It was the middle of the night when we got back. Katara and Sokka were already asleep, so we agreed to not wake them. Before we climbed off Appa I went over to Ria and shook her shoulder gently. She moaned and shifted a little, but remained asleep.

I looked at her peaceful face. I still could not process the fact that she was still alive. I felt such joy when I saw her, living and breathing and healthy, but when her beautiful blue eyes fixed themselves on me… they were full of hatred.

I gently picked her up and brought her down with the others. Soon I also let sleep take me.

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I woke to the sound of Sokkas voice.

"WELL WHY DON'T WE JUST LET THE FIRELORD HIMSELF JOIN OUR GROUP NEXT, HMM?!"

"Sokka, if you would just listen for a second." Aang tried to explain.

"Look, Aang, I'd be all for letting her join our group… if she was maybe an earthbender. We already have someone to teach you firebending!"

"But Sokka…"

"I really don't think it's a good idea."

"Sokka! She's a dragon!"

"Right, whatever that means." he said and rolled his eyes in frustration.

"No… She really is!" Aang cried as he pointed at Ria. "Show them!"

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…" she said awkwardly as she started backing away.

"Really! You have to show them!" Aang begged.

She thought about it for a second. "Alright, fine. But we have to go where no one will see us."

Katara and Sokka gave each other a confused glance as we all started walking deeper into the forest. We came upon a small clearing.

"Ok, here will work. Stand back." We all took a bunch of steps back.

She stood there for a second. And then the most amazing thing happened.

It happened so fast, her body stretched and her skin turned a deep blue color, her clothes vanished and were replaced by scales and spikes. Wings shot out from her back and teeth grew until they were as sharp as knifes.

We all stood starring into the face of a huge mighty dragon.

Sokka passed out.

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Sokka lay on the ground for a little while. Katara started freaking out about how amazing and awesome it was that Ria was a dragon. Sokka finally came to.

"I had the weirdest dream guys…" he mumbled as he struggled to sit up. "This random girl turned into a huge blue dragon."

"Sokka…" I mumbled. "That really happened."

He shot up and faced Ria.

"Sorry. I'll go if you really don't want me." Ria said.

"Want you?! That was amazing! You'll be our secret weapon! Ozai won't know what hit him in the face! But I'm still confused on what's happening."

Ria explained everything. About the masters, the fact that she is one of them, how she is supposed to bring back the dragons.

When she finished, Sokka said, "Well I really don't think anyone in their right mind wouldn't let a dragon join the group. I mean, you could kill a whole fire nation army with the flick of your tail!"

Before she could say anything Katara zoomed up to her and hugged her.

"I can't believe we finally have a girl in our group!" she said with tears of happiness running down her face. "Now I can finally go shopping and get a real opinion!" Both girls squealed and immediately started talking. I could tell they were going to be great friends.

Once we all seemed settled down, we all went back on Appa and started making our way to the earth kingdom.

I still never got the chance to talk to Ria and tell her how sorry I was.

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**Ok! This is kind of a short in between chapter story kind of thing. So sorry it isn't very long! Let me know what you think! And sorry my vacation took forever! **

**p.s.**

**Let me know what you think of the new title! **

**I DO NOT OWN ATLA. **

**-Allie**


	11. The Avatar State

Ria

We kept flying to the earth kingdom. I had gotten pretty well adjusted with everyone, especially Katara. We talked for a long time about girly things. It felt good, seeing the only company in the cave I ever had was my brother. I could tell she appreciated it, too, traveling with boys and what not. Aang and Sokka still seemed a little freaked out over the fact I'm a dragon, but other than that things seemed to be going well. I cast a glace over at Zuko. He looked mad. More mad than usual. I sighed and decided to go over to him.

"Hey." I said realizing this was the first conversation I had with him in years. I looked into the clouds ahead until I heard his reply.

"Hi."

"It's the anniversary right?" I said. I didn't even have to remind him.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Just leave me alone."

I felt anger burn in my chest. I glared at him again.

"DO YOU BLOCK OUT EVERYONE?! OR IS IT JUST ME? YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL I EVEN CAME THIS CLOSE TO YOU, YOU SICKENING PIG." I screamed at him. Everyone starred at me.

I folded my arms and walked back to my place next to Katara and sat down with an annoyed huff.

She cast me a confused glance.

"Well excuse me for trying to help." I snapped.

Katara just gave a small laugh.

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I looked up into Rias face. She looked so mad. I knew she was just trying to help, and I didn't mean what I said like the way she took it.

_Way to blow your chance at apologizing, idiot. _I mentally kicked myself.

We finally landed at the earth kingdom, where we were welcomed with fireworks.

"Welcome Brave Sokka! And Wise Katara! And of course, the avatar! But… I am afraid I do not know these… two." General Fong said as he cast a glance at Ria and I.

"Oh! Umm... of course! These are our newest members! This is Uhh... Lee! And he… is… really good at using swords!" Aang stammered awkwardly. I felt my hand make contact with my forehead.

"And this here is Ria." Aang said, know there wasn't any harm in using her real name. "And she is our... animal specialist."

"Your… Animal specialist?" General Fong said, sounding rather confused.

"Yeah! This huge harry beast doesn't clean up after himself, ya know!" Aang said and patted Appa. "And Momo goes nuts if Ria isn't with here." He said as Momo seemed to nod in agreement.

"Right!" The general said. "Well welcome to you, too, Ria and Lee." He said with a smile.

We all made our way to the court room. We all sat as the general went behind his desk.

"We were all amazed about the stories on how you single handedly whipped out a fire nation army. I can't imagine what it must feel like to hold such devastating power." Fong said as he stroked his beard.

"Well… I try not to think about it to much." Aang said.

"Avatar… you're ready to face the firelord now."

"What?! No I'm not!" We all looked at him in horror.

"Aang still need to master all four elements!" Katara said in confusion.

"Why? With the kind of power he possess… power to destroy hundreds of battle ships in a matter of minutes, he could defeat the firelord now!" He said as he slammed his fist on his desk.

"But sir... Aang can only do those things when he is in the avatar state." Sokka tried to explain.

"The avatar state is when-"

"Yes! I am well aware what the state is." Fong cut him off. "your eyes and tattoos glow and you are able to summon unbelievable strength." He said as he turned words the map that hung on his wall.

"Without you we would be killed before we could even make it to the shore…" he said with his back turned towards us.

"But… with you leading the way… we could cut right to the heart of the firenation!" he said as his finger slid across the map, right to the sign that symbolized the firenation palace.

"Right… but I don't know how to get in or out of the avatar state…" Aang said.

"So its decided then… I'll help you learn how to get in the avatar state… and then you will face your destiny." He said, sure that his plan was going to work.

"That has got to be the stupidest thing I ever heard!" Ria cried as we all stood up.

"Yeah! Nothings decided." Katara piped in. "We already have a plan. Aang is going to master all four elements!"

"Aang is going to do his destiny his way." I added.

"Well… while you take your time learning the elements… the war goes on. May I show you something?" he said as we were beckoned to the huge round window.

We all looked out. "That is the hospital. And those men are the lucky ones." He said as solders limped into the small room. "Every day the fire nation takes lives… people are dying, Aang, you could end it, now! Think about it." and with that he walked off, leaving Aang to ponder his words.

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It was late when we saw Aang again. He told us he wanted to try this whole avatar sate thing. After some arguing among ourselves, we finally agreed to let Aang try it. My mind was on other things though; I cast a glance at Ria. I had to try and find the right time to talk to her.

Katara and Ria seemed to agree that they wanted nothing to do with all this avatar state junk, so they went off to do their own thing. I didn't know what to do, so I sided with the girls on this one. I felt Aang had to do this the right way… and I also wanted to try and get the chance to talk to Ria.

I walked into the room we all shared and saw her sitting on her bed, making small puffs of smoke with the palm of her hand. I took a deep breath and walked over to her.

"Hey, I was wondering if we could maybe talk for a second." I said as I sat down next to her.

She gave me a skeptical look but nodded.

"Well I just thought I should tell you-"

I was interrupted as the door flew open and Katara came rushing in.

"Ria! Now's our chance! They have a little market place a ways off, let's go shopping! We can't let people get suspicious of your firenation outfit!" she cried in joy.

"Sorry Zuko… maybe later." She said and walked off with her new best friend.

I sighed.

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Ria came back late. She was now wearing an earth kingdom outfit that cut off just above the belly button. It had a skirt that stopped just above the knees. It was a very dark green, almost black. I couldn't help but smile at how pretty she looked.

I didn't get a chance to talk to her; she and Katara went to bed.

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After about five more failed attempts at trying to talk to Ria, I was just about ready to give up. Aang was still trying to force on the avatar state. I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in." I said as I sat up.

"Hey. I think we need to talk." Ria said as she walked in.

"Ok." Was all I could get out.

"Look, I don't want things to be… bad between us." She said.

"Yeah."

"So, let's just… try and forget it, k?" she looked down, her eyes filled with sadness.

"Look, about what happened before… when I saw you those years ago…"

"I don't wanna talk about it, alright?" she snapped.

"Ria-"

"Look, what you did hurt me more than you could ever imagine. I don't want to go through it again. Just forget it. Everything I did was to try and protect you, and you couldn't see that. So… let's just pretend it never happened. I don't want to stay mad, Zuko."

With that she walked out of the room. I leaned my head back in frustration. I knew that things still weren't ok.

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I walked in the huge court room with just enough time to see the general throw a huge rock at Aang, the force throwing him out the window.

"Aang!" Sokka screamed as I ran to the window to see if he was ok. I felt guards hold me back.

"Men! Attack!"

I saw Ria walk in the room.

"Help Aang! I cried. It took her a minute to understand, but when she did she pulled out her bow and notched an arrow into place. I heard it wiz past my ear at snag onto the guards cloth and pin him to the wall behind him, the arrow lodged itself deep into the wall. Ria notched another arrow as he desperately pulled on the arrow that had him pined. She let another one fly, one after another until all the earth kingdom guards were stuck. We all ran outside so see Katara waist deep in mud.

Ria and I desperately tried to fight off the guards as Sokka tried to pull his sister out of the mud. I pulled out my swords and knocked down some guards.

Katara sank deeper. "Stop this! You have to let her go!" Aang cried. "You could stop this if you were in the avatar state!" the general yelled.

"I'm trying!" Aang cried with tears running down his face. "Please!"

"Aang, I'm sinking!" Katara cried,

"I don't see glowing!" the general screamed.

"Please!" Katara screamed.

"Stop this now!" Ria cried, a guard holding her down.

"Let us go!" I added to the guard that held me down.

With a flick of his wrist Kataras head went under.

"No!" Aang screamed.

When he turned around his eyes were glowing and he slowly rose to the sky and his rage. Wind blew everywhere; I felt my heart skip a beat at how close we were to the glowing monster that had taken over our friend. I heard Ria scream as she tried to dodge a rock that was picked up by the fierce wind from Aang. Her leg was pinned under something so she couldn't get out of the way.

"Ria, move!" I screamed. I jumped up just as the rock slammed into her.

Before I could help her I felt a huge gust of wind slam me into the wall behind us. I felt the wind get knocked out of me.

"Avatar Aang, your friend is safe!" I opened my eyes to see Katara come up from the ground. I tried to see if Ria was ok, but the wind was blinding.

I looked up at Aang who was still high in the sky, the wind he made was causing things to pick up and blow away.

"It was just a trick to trigger you into the Avatar state! AND IT WORKED!" Fong cried in joy.

Aang came crashing to the ground, sending a wave of rocks that knocked over the guards. All the building smashed to pieces. I felt terrified.

I again tried to get to Ria, but I couldn't. I saw Aang fall over and felt relief when I realized it was over.

"That was almost perfect!" the general cried. "Now we just have to find a way to control you when you're like that!" he stroked his beard, obviously thinking of all the possibilities.

"You're out of your mind. " Aang stated.

"Well I guess we'll figure it out on our way to the fire nation." Just as he finished his sentence Sokka hit him over the head with his boomerang.

"Anyone got a problem with that?" Sokka asked. All the guards shook their heads.

"Ria!" I cried remembering what happened. We all ran up to her, her leg was still under a huge rock. Sokka and I lifted it off of her.

"Ria! Are you ok?!" Aang cried as he ran up.

"Yeah." she mumbled as she examined her foot. It was swollen, but not broken. I let out a breath of relief when I realized it was only a sprain.

"I can't believe I hurt you!" Aang cried with tears running down his face.

"Don't be sorry, Aang it wasn't your fault." She replied as she struggled to stand. I let her lean on me as I helped her over to Appa.

"Do you still want an escort to Omashu?" one of the guards asked.

"I think we're all set." Katara replied as she crossed her arms.

We all got back on Appa and were on our way.

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**I hope you guys like it! Let me know! Thanks again for reading! **

**I DO NOT OWN ATLA.**

**-Allie **


	12. The Cave of Two Lovers

Ria

We all decided to take a quick break before heading off to Omashu. Aang and Katara practiced their waterbending, while I was playing with Momo. Zuko sat by Appa, looking depressed as usual. Sokka floated along on a huge leaf, relaxing. I took in the scenery, a beautiful pool, lush green leaves, the air smelled so clean. Everything seemed perfect. I let out a content sigh. I decided I wanted in on some of the fun, so with a giant leap I landed with a splash in the water. Everyone laughed when I surfaced.

"We have to go soon, guys, we have a lot of ground to cover if we're going to make it to Omashu by today." I heard Sokka say as he lazily drifted along on his leaf boat.

"Right… like you're ready to go now, naked guy?" Katara said with a smirk. I laughed at that as I did the back stroke, squirting water out of my mouth like a fountain.

"I could be ready in two minutes, seriously!" Sokka argued as he lifted up a strand of his hair that covered his eye.

"Ok, let me see your octopus stance." Katara told Aang, ignoring Sokka.

Aang did as he was asked. Katara walked over and moved his arms to make the stance more stable. I saw Aang blush. I couldn't help but steal a glance at Zuko, who was still sitting in silence.

"OK! Let's see what you got." Katara said as she took her stance.

She threw some ice at Aang, who blocked them. Aang reached out with the water and wrapped it around Kataras ankle.

"You make a fine octopus, pupil Aang." She said.

Aang just did this wired little dance inside a bubble of water as a response.

We all sat up as we heard the sound of music. We saw some strange looking people walk into our clearing. Zuko took a stance showing he wasn't afraid to fight them. I just rolled my eyes, seeing no threat.

"Hey! River people!" The one with the strange instrument proclaimed, pointing at us.

"We aren't river people." Katara said.

"You're not? Well then what kind of people are you?" he asked. I stood up, flinching a little as I put weight on my sprained ankle.

"Just… people I guess." Aang responded.

"Aren't we all, brother." He said, sounding satisfied with that answer.

"Who are you?" Zuko and Sokka demanded at the same time.

"I'm Jong; this is my wife, Lily. We're nomads; we go wherever the wind takes us." With that he busted out a few notes on his guitar thing.

"You guys are nomads? That great! I'm a nomad!" Aang said in excitement.

"Really? Me too!" I rolled my eyes at that.

"Yeah, that's what I just said…" Aang responded.

"Oh. Yeah... Nice underwear…" he said dreamily, starring at Sokka who covered himself up with Momo.

I threw my head back in laughter as I walked up to the people.

"I like you guys." I said and gave another snort as Sokka blushed.

"Why thank you, pretty lady." I joined them in laughter. They were a free spirit, just like me.

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It was a while later, we all sat near Appa, all braiding his fur. One of the nomads pulled my hair into a side braid, and stuck some pretty red flowers in them.

"Hey, Sokka and Zuko!" Aang said as the two walked up. "You should hear some of these stories, these guys have been everywhere!"

'Well not everywhere, little arrowhead, but the places we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs.

Sokka and Zuko looked frustrated.

"Look, we hate to be the fun killer here," Zuko stated. "But we really need to get to Omashu."

"Yeah, I agree with Mr. Grumps on this one, we can't really be getting sidetracked." Sokka added as he crossed his arms.

"Looks like someone has a case of destination fever." The nomad stated as he looked at the two boys.

"You gotta focus less on the 'where' and more on the 'going.'" Lilly said as she looked up from Kataras braid.

I laughed. "Yeah you guys, enjoy life while you can." I tilted my head back, soaking in the sun.

Sokka gave us a look before he said:

"OH. MA. SHOE."

We all sighed. "Sokka's right, we need to find king Bumi so Aang can learn earth bending." Katara said.

"Well it sounds like you're heading to Omashu." Jong said. Sokka face palmed.

"There is a story about a secret pass… right through the mountains."

Aang looked excited. "Is this real? Or is this just a legend?" Katara questioned.

"Oh it's a real legend." Me and Zuko shared a glance at that statement. We both tried not to laugh. "It's as old as earth bending itself." With that he started strumming some notes.

We all started moving to the music, all except Sokka and Zuko that is.

"Two lovers, forbidden from one another, the war divides their people, and a mountain divides them apart. They just want to be togetherrr." he sang.

"Uhh... I forget the next couple of lines… but then it goes; SECRET TUNNEL. SECRET TUNNEL. THROUGH THE MOUTAINS. SECRET, SECRET, SECRET, SECRET TUNNEL. Yeah!"

We all gave him a kind of weird look, but clapped anyways.

"Yeah, I think we'll just stick with flying." Sokka stated. "We dealt with the firenation before. We'll be fine." Zuko insisted.

"Yeah, thanks for your help, though. Appa hates going underground, and we have to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable." Aang said as he motioned towards the huge beast.

The next thing I know were flying through the air, fire balls blasting at us in every direction. I screamed in horror and grabbed on to Zuko, who grabbed on to me. We screamed again.

We made it back to the nomads.

"Secret love cave lets go." Sokka said in disappointment.

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"So how long is this tunnel?" Sokka asked.

"Actually, it's a bunch of tunnels, the two lovers didn't want anyone to find them, and so they built a whole bunch of tunnels. Kind of like a maze." He explained, moving his fingers around to make it sound scary.

"What?!" Sokka cried.

"Eh, I'm sure we'll figure it out." he said, totally care free.

"You just need to trust and love." Lilly said.

We finally made it to the tunnel.

"Hey! We're here!"

"The curse says only those who trust and love can exit the cave. Otherwise you'll be trapped in there forever." Jong said as we all looked at the entrance. "And die. Oh yeah! I just remembered the rest of the song! AND DIE." he sang as he played a note.

We all exchanged a glance at that.

"We are so not going in there." Zuko stated.

"Hey look, a campfire!" one of the nomads said with glee, pointing at smoke.

"Crap." I muttered.

"Ok! Everyone, into Love cave or whatever!" Zuko cried as he started herding us into the cave.

We barely made it in when the rocks collapsed, blocking us out.

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We had been walking through the tunnels for a while now, Sokka had made a map, trying to figure out where we were going, but it didn't really work out to well.

"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to." Katara tried to tell him.

"We were already here…" Sokka said in frustration.

"Something strange is going one here, and there is one explanation." Zuko stated as he leaned against the cave wall. "The tunnels are changing."

Just as he said that the walls started moving. Rocks started falling from the ceiling, I felt myself start to panic, I looked up in just enough time to see a wave of rocks about to fall over me a felt Zuko grab me and pull me out of the way, separating us from the others. I looked around; we were in only a small place. I felt my heart beet against me chest as I realized if we didn't get out of here soon we were going to run out of air.

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Zuko and I desperately started trying to dig ourselves out.

"Out of all the people to get stuck with, I can't believe it's you." I shot at Zuko, who just ignored me.

"You don't get it, do you?!" I cried. "Why can't you just see that everything I did was for your own good?!" I tried to lash out at him, my fist connecting to his chest.

"All those years I had to suffer knowing that I couldn't see you!" I cried again, tears now streaming down my face.

"Don't you see how much pain it put me through? And then to have you slap me in return?! You should feel awful!" I sobbed/ screamed as I punched his strong chest again and again.

He pulled me into a hug. I tried to fight him off, but his strong arms wouldn't let me go.

"Why can't you see how much I truly care about you?' I whispered, giving up on fighting him off.

"Ria, I felt awful for years." He whispered. "The pain was almost unbearable. I just couldn't find the right way to tell you how sorry I am. I ever meant to hurt you; I know that you were only trying to protect me. When I thought you were dead… my whole life seemed to stop. Ria, I am so so sorry."

I tried to stop crying.

"You just couldn't look past yourself. Why can't you see people care about you? Why can't you see _I _care about you?" I said as a buried my face into his chest, trying to stifle my sobs.

"I understand now. I care about you, Ria. And I am so sorry for what happened." He whispered into my hair, his strong arms holding my tight.

We sat there for a minute, him holding me, me soaking him in like I used to years ago.

I sat up and looked into his eyes and found myself leaning in, our lips almost touched but he pulled away. I felt hot with embarrassment and sadness.

"So, are we cool then?" I managed to get out after a while.

He stuck his hand out. "Friends?" I felt myself wanting to be more than that, but I realized if he didn't want to be bigger than friends, then it wouldn't work out. I sighed and grabbed his hand and shook it.

"Friends." I agreed, still not feeling contempt with that.

I looked at the wall that blocked us from the others.

"So, are we going to die in here or what?" I said.

Before he could respond a hand shot through the rocks. We desperately pulled more rocks down. We heard Sokkas voice.

"We found them!"

We finally made it out and breathed in the air.

I managed to catch my breath. "Where are Aang and Katara?"

"We got separated; we're going to meet them outside the caves." Sokka responded, his voice hopeful.

Before anyone could react the cave wall exploded, showing us huge badger moles.

I almost passed out, it scared me so bad.

Sokka was trapped up against the wall by one of them, he tried to back up and his hand hit the guitar. The badger mole looked interested so Sokka picked it up and started strumming.

"Hey, those things are music lovers!" Jong said.

"Badger moles, coming at me, come on guys help me out." Sokka desperately tried to sing.

"The big bad badger moles… who earth bend the tunnels… hate the wolf bats, but love the soundsss." The other nomads joined in.

"Wait! Let me ask them something!" I cried as I walked up to one of them.

"Ria! What in the spirits name are you doing?" Zuko hissed at me.

"Animals can talk to each other, and I'm pretty much an animal." I shot back. I walked up to the huge creatures and exchanged a few grunts and roars.

_We are no threat._ I told them. _We just want to find a way out of these tunnels. _

_We will show you the way. _One of the moles responded.

We all climbed up one their backs.

"You know, it could have been useful to know you could communicate with animals before." Sokka told me.

"Well you never asked." I responded as I stuck my nose in the air.

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We made it out of the caves.

I sighed a breath of relief when I saw Katara and Aang already out.

"How did you guys get out?" Sokka said in happiness as he slid off the moles back.

"Just like the legend says… we let love led the way." Zuko and I shared a glance.

"Really? We let huge badger moles lead our way." Sokka said as he pointed at the huge beasts. "Did you guys know Ria can actually talk to animals?!" he cried.

"Awesome!" Aang cried.

The moles went back in the tunnels as it closed behind them.

"Why is your forehead all red?" Katara asked.

"Nobody react to what I'm about to tell you… I think that kids the avatar."

Sokka hit his forehead again. And I laughed. And for the first time in years, I heard Zuko laugh, too.

The nomads walked off, singing a little tune.

"Well the journey was long and annoying, but we finally made it. Now you guys get to see what it's really about, the destination." Sokka said as we were about to come up over the hill.

"I present to you… the earth kingdom, Oh-"

He broke off as we looked at the city.

"Oh no…" I said in shock.

We all looked at the city that now had the firenation symbol all over it.

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**Whoo! There was fluff in this one! So what do you guys think about the fact that she can talk to animals? I just thought I would add that in. let me know if I can approve this in any way! Thanks!**

**I DO NOT OWN ATLA.**

**-Allie**


	13. Return to Omashu

**Hi guys! I am so sorry that this chapter isn't that great… nothing changed to much, but at least I added a little fluffy stuff. **

**I promise, the next chapter has MEGA fluff. Like for real, I would know because I already finished it! XD**

**So look forward to that and ignore how bad this one is. **

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Zuko

We all starred at the city that was now covered in the firenation symbol.

"We knew this war was bad… but Omashu always seemed… untouchable." Aang said as he looked back at us.

"Now Ba Sing Se is the only strong hold against the firenation…" Sokka stated.

"This is awful… but we have to move on…" Katara said softly.

"No... We have to go find Bumi." Aang said as he made up his mind.

"Are you crazy?" I said before Aang could go any further. "We don't even know if Bumi is alive."

"I know you had your mind set on Bumi… but there are other people that could teach you earthbending." Katara said, trying to sound upbeat.

"This isn't about trying to find a teacher; this is about trying to help a friend."

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Appa floated down the wall of the city, almost to the ground. Aang was trying to pry something open with his staff.

"A secret passage?! Why didn't we use it last time?!" Sokka cried.

Just as he said it, the lid flew off and green slime poured out of the huge pipe.

"Ew!" Ria leapt back as some got on her shoes.

We all climbed in, Ria found some good foot holds on the ceiling, so I copied her and climbed after her. Aang used airbending to block the slime, Katara used waterbending to keep it away from her, and Sokka of course was drowning the stuff.

Once we finally made it out we all took a deep breath of clean air. We looked around the city, it was dark and quite.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought." Katara said, not a drop on her. Sokka climbed out, completely drenched in it. Katara used water to clean him off; Aang used airbending to dry him off.

I heard Ria snort with laughter as she noticed the leaches on his face. Sokka panicked and desperately tried to pull them off.

"THEY WONT LET GO." He cried in anguish.

"Hold still." Ria said and tickled them in a certain spot.

They unlatched immediately. She then took two of the ones that were on her face and tickled them, too. They reviled some pink dots where they suction cups stuck on their faces.

"Hey!" we heard a guard yell. "What are you kids doing up past curfew?"

"Sorry! We were just on our way home!" Katara chirped. We all turned around.

"Wait! What's wrong with them?" the guard asked, pointing at the dots on Sokkas and Rias face and neck.

"Uhh... They have pentapox sir!" Katara said. "It's highly contagious!"

Sokka began to cough and Ria began making these weird chocking noises before she collapsed onto the ground.

"RIA, NOOOOOOOO!" Aang cried over dramatically, falling to his knees where Ria lay.

"We better go wash our hands..." one of the guards cried as Sokka moaned and walked towards him.

"And burn our clothes!" They all ran off.

Ria sat up and busted out laughing. I joined in, too.

"Thank you, friend." Aang said as he petted the little squid thing.

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"We all snuck around the city, hiding behind wall after wall. We saw some guards again and jumped behind a wall again.

"Let's just get Bumi and get out of here…" Katara hissed.

"Where would they be keeping him?" Sokka pitched in, trying to help.

"Somewhere he can't earthbend, most likely." Ria whispered.

"Yeah! Some place made of metal." Aang said.

I looked up, forgetting the mission momentarily, and stared in shock at the familiar face of someone from my childhood.

"Mai…" I managed to get out. Ria looked up and blinked in shock, too.

Before I knew what I was doing I was pulling a mask out of my bag.

"Is… is that the blue spirit mask I gave you all those years ago?" Ria questioned.

"Yup." I said, slightly embarrassed.

She smiled and pulled her old mask out of her pouch. "Well now I feel less stupid for carrying mine around."

The others looked at us in silence, we had no time to explain, we saw carts come flying down at Mai and her family, and as much as I didn't like her… I knew we had to help.

We all jumped out and pushed them out of the way. The rock carts that came down at them like the speed of light.

Mai looked at us for a moment, she suddenly pulled out knifes and hurled them at us, Ria and I dodged with ease.

All five of us made a run for it, Mai hot on our trail.

Mai threw more knifes at us, but Katara made a wall of ice, blocking them.

Aang made sure we all made it before he used airbending to spill beams over, blocking her. She tried to get us with knifes on last time, I saw Aang ready with his staff, but suddenly the ground seemed to crumble under us, and we were underground.

We all sat down, rubbing our heads. When I looked up I saw earth kingdom warriors surrounding us. I took my mask off, so did Ria.

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"Soo... is king Bumi with you guys? Is he leading the resistance?" Aang questioned one of the guards.

"Of course not! The day of the invasion we asked him what he wanted us to do… we were so prepared to defend or city… to fight for our lives and for our freedom… but before we even had a chance… King Bumi surrendered.

"When we asked him what he wanted us to do… he looked me in the eye and said, 'I am going to do… nothing!'"

"Doesn't matter now… fighting the fire nation is our only path to freedom." The guard said in disappointment.

I looked around the huge cave we were in… rocks everywhere we looked, the only thing that was giving light was the green torches.

"Actually… there is another way…" I said, an idea coming to mind. "You guys could just leave the city."

"He's right." Ria backed me up. "You guys are outnumbered; retreat so you can live to fight another day…"

"I guess you're right…" He mumbled after some more arguing among themselves. "But there are thousands of citizens that need to leave! How are you going to get them all out?!"

"We already figured that one out… you're all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox." I said.

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Everyone set to work at covering themselves in pink dots… I watched all the people help each other with the squid things… soon enough everyone had dots.

"The marks make you _look_ sick, but you gotta _act_ sick, too." Sokka told the group that waited outside. "You have to sell it."

Just then an old man limped across, groaning.

"Perfect!" Ria said to the man.

"Years of practice!" he replied with a tap on his wooden leg.

"Ok everyone, into sick formation!" Sokka said as the group limped off.

"Aang? What are you doing? Aren't you coming with?" Katara asked Aang as he started walking off with Momo.

"No, I have to find Bumi."

"Well then I'm going with." I said as I slipped on my mask.

"Me too." Ria said as she also put hers on.

"Please be careful…" Katara said as we all ran off to find the earth king.

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Ria and I ran, trying to keep up with Aang who used his airbending to make him fast. We all jumped onto a building, and landed on the roof.

"Flopsy!" Aang cried as he jumped down to see the huge beast that looked threatening. The huge monster desperately tried to get Aang, but the chain held him back. Aang cut the line using water bending.

The huge thing grabbed on to Aang. He laughed.

"Come one, boy, you have to show us where Bumi is!"

Ria ran up to him and they exchanged some grunts and snarls before she looked back at us.

"He doesn't know where he is, but he can help us look!" She explained.

We all jumped on to the huge beast, we hung on as it ran through the city.

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We entered the camp at night, disappointment was written all over Aang. I sighed and took off my mask.

"We looked everywhere…" Aang said sadly. Katara hugged him.

"We just did a head count…" The guard approached us. "Looks like we have an extra." We all looked at the baby.

"This is Mais baby brother!" I said as I looked at the little baby that crawled around.

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Ria

We all sat around the campfire, the little baby chasing Momo around. He grabbed Sokkas boomerang.

"No! Bad fire nation baby!" Sokka grabbed it back.

Of course the baby started wailing. I rolled my eyes.

"Sokka!" Katara hit him over the head.

"Fine…" he mumbled and gave the kid back the boomerang.

We all looked up to the sound of a messenger hawk.

I ran over to it and grabbed the letter.

"It's from the fire nation governor! He thinks we kidnapped his son! He said he wants to make a trade… his son, for king Bumi!"

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Our group started to get on Appa, I tried to help Ria up, but she slapped my hand away. I rolled my eyes at her independence.

"You guys realize we're probably walking right into a trap, right?" Sokka said as he jumped up.

"I don't think so… I'm sure he wants his son back as much as we want king Bumi back."

"It's a new day." Aang said. "I have a good feeling about this."

I plopped down next to Ria who gave me a smile. She grabbed my hand.

"You look tense… I know that you're scared seeing people we grew up around… but I'm scared too, so let's do this together." She gave my hand a squeeze. I found myself blushing.

_Gosh, Zuko, you already agreed with her that we're just friends. Nothing more. Not yet at least… _

I smiled back at her. I slipped on my mask.

"I still can't believe we both kept these." She said, looking down at her mask.

"Yeah, I couldn't find the heart to throw it out…" I looked down into its eyes before I put it back on over my face. Ria did the same.

She smiled again, and I felt my heart beat a little harder.

_It's just because I'm nervous about the trade… _I tried to tell myself. I knew I was lying.

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We all stood at a construction site, waiting for someone to come with Bumi. I felt my heart drop when I saw the faces of my sister and her childhood friends, Michi included.

I looked at Ria, who I could tell was nervous even with her mask on.

The four of them walked up.

We saw Bumi get lowered down, he was in a sort of metal coffin.

"Hi, everybody!" He laughed.

I saw Aang smile.

"Did you bring my brother?" Mai questioned.

"He's here… we're ready to trade." Aang replied.

"I'm sorry, but I just thought of something." Azula said. "We're trading a two year old for a king… a powerful earth bending king. It just doesn't seem like a fair trade!"

Michi, who still had her stupid pigtails, laughed. "I couldn't agree more, Azula."

"You guys are right." Mai said as she walked up. "The deals off." King Bumi started rising from the ground.

"Bumi!" Aang cried as he took off after him. Before we could try and stop him, he used his airbending. I flinched as I saw the realization on Azulas face as Aang flew after Bumi.

I saw Azula and Michi run after Aang, Ria and I exchanged a glance before we took off after them, leaving Katara and Sokka to fight Mai and Ty Lee.

We both started climbing up the side of the building after Aang. We say him freezing the metal, I already knew his plan, I saw my chance and shoved Ria.

"Jump!"

We both did.

I sighed with relief when we both landed in one of the cars that were on the slides. Ria stood behind me, I managed to steal a glance and saw Michi hot on our trail.

"Don't use any firebending!" I told her just loud enough for our ears.

She pulled out her bow and fired arrows at Michi, who used her own firebending to gain speed on use.

"We have to split up! It'll confuse her!" Ria cried.

Before I could argue against it she jumped to a slide next to me. The shoots divided, and we went our separate ways, after a moment of ponder, Michi kept pursuing me.

The chase went on for a few minutes; I felt my stomach drop when I realized the shoot ended. I felt it stop against a wall. I was trapped.

Michi smiled and made her hands ignite in red flames. I felt my heart beat as she came close, before she could even touch me I heard the sound of an arrow fly through the air. She didn't have time to dodge as it snagged her shirt and pinned her to the wall behind her.

Ria jumped down and used her bow to pin her to the wall completely, arrows pretty much outlining her.

Michi tried to get free, but of course it was in vain. She screamed in frustration.

I nodded to Ria, who nodded back. We both sprinted off to find Aang.

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Once we finally found him he seemed to be finishing up a conversation with king Bumi.

"Come on guys, let's get out of here!" Ria said.

"Bumi isn't coming." Aang replied as the crazy king used earthbending to bring himself back up the slide.

"What?! Why not?!"

"We need an earth bending teacher that will wait and listen." Aang said, looking after Bumi.

We saw Katara and Sokka rise on Appas back. Aang stole one last glance at the king, and we all got on.

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Michi

Once I had Mai and Ty Lee help me get those retched arrows un- snagged from my clothes, we went to meet up with Azula, who seemed frustrated.

"My brother obviously failed the avatar, dying in the process; Uncle has given up and gone home, so it is up to us now." She said.

I couldn't help but think back to those two people with the masks, something about them seemed familiar…

Before I could think about it anymore, Azula already started making plans on where we were heading next.

I tried to push the masked people to the back of my mind.

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**Again, sorry this chapter isn't really great. But at least I added some fluff in this one! **

**BUT LIKE I SAID, NEXT CHAPTER IS TOTALLY AWESOME AND FULL OF FLUFF. **

**So be ready for that. **

**Thank you guys for the awesome reviews, too! I really hope you like it!**

**I DO NOT OWN ATLA**

**-Allie**


	14. Jet

**Ok! This is my favorite chapter so far. **

***gasps* So… much… FLUFF. **

**Yeah, I skipped out on the swamp. Sorry, but I feel like nothing really changed in that chapter. Yes, I know Jet was in book one, but this is ****_my_**** take on the story. So I am very sorry if it bothers you. anyways, enjoy this fluff filled chapter! **

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Katara

Our group walked through the forest; it was apparently too dangerous to fly, so we were pretty much stuck with walking for now. I couldn't help but steal a glance at Ria and Zuko. Ever since the caves we went through they seemed to be getting along so much better. They laughed together all the time, and retold memories of their childhood. It was weird seeing Zuko like this, whenever he was with Ria he seemed more… More human. I could totally tell he loved her, from the way he sat so close to her, from the way he blushed when she would hold his hand, to the way he laughed with that sparkle in his eye when she would crack a joke. Just the way he looked at her; I could tell he was deep in love.

They were so different, she was so calm and at peace, he was so frustrated and full of emotions. I guess that made them balance each other out, but it would definitely cause a lot of arguments.

"Zuko, you're being such an idiot." She rolled her eyes as we walked across the forest floor.

"_I'm _being the idiot? You know that's not how it happened! _I _was the one who shoved Michi in the pond sticking up for _you._"

"THAT'S A LIE AND YOU KNOW IT." Ria challenged. "I totally was the one!"

"Um… guys…?" I tried to break them up.

They just ignored me. "Ria, really. It was totally me." Zuko said with wave of his hand, trying to dismiss the whole thing.

"No way! You just sat down and cried while I did all the work!" Ria snapped.

"_guys._" I said, slightly annoyed.

"STOP LYING. YOU KNOW THAT YOU-"

"GGUUYYYSS!" I screamed so loud birds shot up from the trees.

Everyone looked at me.

"We're lost." I bluntly said.

Ria groaned. "Ugh. Again? Hey, has anyone seen Momo?" as if in response we heard the lemur screech far off.

Aang ran ahead, us following close behind.

He used airbending to launch himself up to Momo, who was stuck in a trap, he pulled the rope and Momo fell to the ground, Sokka and I opened up the cage and he flew out.

Ria made some chirp noises to which he responded.

"He's ok!" Ria said. Momo scampered off and kept eating a berry. Sokkas hands meet his forehead.

We all looked up to see a bunch more animals stuck in traps, Sokka used his boomerang to cut them all down.

Zuko ran over to one of the cages.

"These are firenation. We have to get out of here." He said.

Sokka demanded we walk.

"Walking stinks!" Aang complained. "How do people go anywhere without a flying bison?!"

"I don't know." I replied. "Why don't you ask Sokkas instincts?" Ria and Zuko snorted.

"Ha, very funny." Sokka said, not even looking back.

"I'm tired of carrying this pack." Aang moaned.

"Maybe you should ask Sokkas instincts to carry it for you." Ria joined in.

"Good idea! Hey Sokka instincts, would you mind-"

"OK I GET IT." Sokka snapped. "look, I'm tired to, but the important thing is that we're safe from the-"

He broke off as we walked right into a clearing that was filled with firenation soldiers.

They all looked at us.

"RUN!" Sokka screamed as we all took off.

The soilders ran after us, I used waterbending to block on of the spears that was coming at me, I looked over at Ria, who was shooting arrows with her bow. One of the guards shot a wall of fire at us, Sokka had a flame on his shirt witch I quickly put out.

We were trapped. I could tell that Zuko and Ria couldn't firebend, seeing it would give away who they were.

_"_If you let us go we won't hurt you_." Sokka said._

_"You _promise not to hurt_ us?" _the guard said with a threatening laugh. Zuko stepped in front of Ria protectively.

All of a sudden we heard the battle cry of young people, and we saw a group of boys jump from trees and start fighting the firenation. I stole a glance at Ria, who's eyes were as big as plates as she looked at one of the guys.

I looked at them for a second, and then I too joined in the fight. Ria was frozen in place, her jaw almost to the floor.

Once the fight was over the boys who seemed to be in charge walked right up to Ria.

"Long time no see, babe."

I found my jaw almost touching the floor, too.

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Ria

"First off," I said, finding my voice. "I am not your _babe. _And good to see you, Jet." I hugged him.

"Well, I have to admit, I am rather surprised to see you here…and if I may, you look twice as beautiful as you did last time." He said with a sly grin.

I totally blushed.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Sokka said, his mouth hanging open.

"No duh, Sokka." I rolled my eyes.

"Ha! And just as funny, too." He drew his attention on Sokka. "Yeah I knew Ria, for almost a year, actually. She joined my freedom fighters. But then she had to leave for some unknown reason. All I know is that I missed her so much." He grabbed me into a another hug, which I returned.

When I looked up Zuko was staring at Jet with hatred.

"Where are my manners? I'm Jet, these are my freedom fighters." He introduced them all one by one, I looked around at the familiar faces and smiled.

I saw Katara walk up to Jet, I could already tell she liked him.

"Um… thanks for saving us, Jet, we're lucky you were there." She said shyly.

"Yeah whatever." He said and waved her off. "So Ria, where have you been?" he asked me.

"Just trying to bring peace back to the world, the usual." He just about busted a gut laughing, witch creeped me out a little

"Hey, Jet, these barrels are filled with blasting jelly." The duke piped up.

"That's a great score!" Jet said in excitement.

"And these boxes are filled with jelly candy!" Pipsqueak said, lifting up a box.

"Also a great score." Jet replied.

"Let's take this stuff back to the hide out." One of the freedom fighters said.

"You guys have a hide out?!" Aang asked in excitement.

"Oh you wouldn't believe how amazing it is, I was there when it was still in the making. It's so big and beautiful." I said, remembering the tree fort.

"Ha! Yeah, some of its best features come from this girl right here." Jet said and wrapped his arm around my waist.

I laughed awkwardly at that. "I'm sure Jet won't mind if we go and see it." I said.

"Are you kidding? I would love for you to come see it!" Jet laughed.

We walked a ways until we came to the familiar spot.

"We're here." Jet said.

"I don't see anything." Zuko snapped, sounding really annoyed.

"Here, hold this." Jet handed a rope to Sokka who grabbed on.

"What's this?" Sokka asked.

Suddenly he flew up into the air and slammed into the tree.

Aang used airbending to jump up, and Jet sent Katara up next. Jet looked at me and grabbed my waist before we gently rose up, he looked into my eyes. I could tell he still wasn't over me. My mind thought back to the last time I saw him.

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_It had been almost a year since I joined the freedom fighters; I was just about to turn 15. Jet and I went out for a walk, it was beautiful out, and the trees were lightly covered in snow. Jet looked at me._

_"Ria, I have to tell you something." _

_"Yeah?" I asked._

_"Listen, I know this I crazy, but I think I'm in love with you. _

_I felt my heart skip a beat._

_"Jet…" _

_He cut me off, his lip touched mine. I didn't know what to do… I pulled away._

_"Jet, I… I don't know how to tell you this, but I have to go now, back home, with my brother." _

_"Ria!" he cried. "You can't be serious! After I just told you how I love you?" he asked. _

_I looked at him, and I couldn't help but think back to Zuko. I just didn't feel the same about him… _

_"I'm sorry, Jet." I left him and packed up the few things I had before I left. Before I went he grabbed my arm._

_"Listen, I won't try to stop you, but I vow to you now, Ria, I will see you again." _

_I looked at him in sadness. _

_"Goodbye, Jet." I gently kissed his cheek before I started on my way home again._

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We made it to the top of the hide out, Jet helped me set my feet on sturdy ground.

"Just like old times, huh?" he asked.

I just nodded.

I saw Aang zoom by on a zip line.

"Nice place you got!" he cried.

We all walked to a certain place in the tree house. On the way there Katara wouldn't stop talking, and that seemed to almost annoy Jet.

"Hey longshot, still good with the bow I see." I walked over to the quite boy who just nodded.

"Ria over here thought longshot everything he knows about a bow." Jet said with pride.

I heard Zuko groan.

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Zuko

We all sat around the dinner table, seeing Jet talk to Ria made me so mad, I didn't even know why, it just made me want to kill him.

Everyone was so excited to see Ria, people would come up to her and talk to her, they would hug her, everyone just seemed so overjoyed…. Jet seemed the most excited.

"Uhh… Zuko? You're kind of killing your food." I heard Aang say. I looked down at my hand to see the piece of corn turned completely to mush. I was crushing it in all my anger.

I looked back at Ria, Jet whispered something in her ear and she laughed and whispered something back. I clenched my teeth.

He leaned over again and told her something, they both stood up and walked away from the huge group, after a moment's hesitation I followed.

They went to a small stand and let their feet dangle over the side. I snuck up and stood on the other side of the tree trunk.

"Look, I'm not sure I want to talk about it." I heard Ria say.

"Why not? Look, when we kissed, I felt it, that feeling I always dreamed I would get when I kissed you. It was so magical. I know you had to feel the same way." Jet told her. "I want you to stay here with me, I'll give you the choice, but just know I really do, I want you to stay." With that he started leaning in for a kiss.

I felt my jaw drop open. I heard enough, I left the tree fort and dropped to the ground. I had to clear my head.

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Ria

"I want you to stay." Jet told me.

He leaned in again; I shoved him away and stood up.

"Well that won't happened, I have a duty to my group, I have to stop this war… and listen Jet, you think you know me, but you really don't. If you did know me, you would never like me." I told him.

"You could be the firenation princess herself and that wouldn't change what I think about you." he told me.

I just laughed at that and walked away, on my way back to the group he yelled behind me. "Think about it, Ria!"

I kept walking. I saw Zuko down on the forest floor, leaning against a tree. I grabbed the rope and went down to see what had suddenly gotten into him.

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Zuko

I stood there, my one leg bent and pushed up against a tree, my arms crossed and my head down. I saw Rias shoes as she walked up to me.

"Hey, we didn't see you at dinner tonight." She said awkwardly as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Why should you care, not like you wanted me anyways." I said, not even looking up as I turned my back towards her.

"Zuko, what the heck has gotten in to you?" She demanded.

"I don't know… why don't you go ask your boyfriend, Jet?" I said bitterly as I looked up at the tree fort above my head.

"What on earth are you talking about?" she said and placed a hand on my cheek, making me look into her blue eyes.

"Gee, Ria, I don't know. Maybe I'm upset over the fact that you actually _kissed_ jet?!" I snapped.

She took a few steps back in shock.

"You snoop!" she cried. "You really eavesdropped on me?!"

"I just overheard, ok?!" I snapped and stood up to face her.

"I can't believe this! Right when I thought you couldn't get any worse… and what the heck does it matter if I kissed jet or not?!" I snapped.

"It just does!" I said and threw my arms up in complete frustration.

"Well it shouldn't! You made it very clear in the love tunnels about what you thought of me. Of _us._"

"No I didn't!" I cried.

"Really?! You mean to tell me that the handshake wasn't a big enough hint, or was it the part where you said, 'friends.'" She challenged, pointing a finger at me.

"UGH. I swear Ria, you're so frustrating." I cried as I grabbed my head with both my hands in complete frustration, pacing while I talked.

"I'M FRUSTRATING?!" she screamed, her voice super high pitch in shock at my words. "WELL YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY MR. ICANTMAKEUPMYMIND." She shot back at me.

"Well I can't believe you actually considered staying with that annoying jet guy!"

"What other conversations of mine did you, 'Overhear.'?!" She screamed, making the quote symbol with her two fingers. "Are you actually that stupid you can't see how much I actually like you?!"

"Gosh, the kiss with Jet was kind of a big give away!" I snarled back at her. My head literally had steam coming off of it.

"Zuko! I swear! You frustrate me so much!" she said through clenched teeth, clenching her hands and throwing her head back in frustration.

"_I _frustrate _you_?!" I yelled.

"GAH! Normally I can actually get most people, see their side of things, try and understand where they come from… but you…" she pointed a finger at me, her voice shaking in rage. "You go above and beyond obnoxious! It's almost inhuman!

"Well at least I have an ounce of loyalty to our group! And at least I don't go make out with evil people!"

"ARE YOU REALLY STILL ON THIS?" she screamed, getting up in my face. "AND WHAT DOES IT MATTER? ITS NOT LIKE YOU SHOULD CARE, MR. FRIENDSHIP MAN."

"I SERIOUSLY CANT STAND YOU!" I yelled.

She started to head back towards the tree fort.

"Oh, so now you're just going to walk away from this?!"

"YOU GOT IT, STUPID."

"DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME WHILE I'M TALKING TO YOU." I yelled and grabbed her arm.

She shoved me away.

"Oh, so now you're my dad?! Is that it?! We're done with the friendship thing? Moved on to the father daughter relationship now?!" she snapped.

"I HATE YOU." I cried, not knowing how to respond.

"I HATE YOU MORE." She screamed back, her face bright red in anger.

"GOOD. I HATE YOU MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER THINK POSSIBLE."

"LEAVE ME ALONE."

She again tried to make a beeline for the fort, but I grabbed her arm again and whirled her to face me. She desperately tried to escape my grasp.

"LET GO OF-"

Without any forethought of hesitation I grabbed her face between my hands…

And I kissed her.

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At first she tried to pull back, but then she fell into the kiss, and we both stood there, our lips touching, her arms warped around my neck, mine around her waist.

And I felt it. That spark I always heard about from other young people in love, that sound of fireworks going off in my head, my heart thumping fast. I could tell she must have felt something; by the way she kissed me back.

Once our lips parted I braced myself for a good slap across the face, but instead I heard her say,

"I seriously hate your guts…" She grabbed my shirt and pulled me back into another kiss.

I smiled.

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Ria

Once we pulled away again we both kind of awkwardly looked at each other. I couldn't help but start laughing, in fact, I laughed so hard I bent over with tears running down my face, I looked over at Zuko who was cracking up, too.

"Well let's get back to the fort." I said as I struggled to stand up, still trying to contain my laughter.

Zuko just nodded as he whipped away a tear from the laughter.

Once we had settled down I looked at him. "You know… I didn't kiss Jet. _He _kissed_ me._

"You mean… you didn't enjoy it or anything?"

"Are you kidding? I wanted to throw up in his mouth." I stated as a shiver ran down my back from the memory.

Zuko burst out laughing again, as did I.

We finally made it back and I saw Jet waiting outside my door.

"Hey! There you are! Did you think about what I said?" he asked as he grabbed my hand. I awkwardly looked at Zuko who stood behind me.

"Yeah, I'm staying with my group, sorry Jet."

He looked down, his eyes full of disappointment.

"It's him, isn't it?" he said and nodded at Zuko.

"It really wouldn't matter if it was, I just don't think we were meant to be together, Jet." I whispered softly.

"Why not then?" he whispered, I saw tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Because of the hate you have for firebenders. Not all firebenders are evil." I tried to reply softly.

"But…"

"How could I love someone… who is filled with so much hate?"

He looked down, seeming to at least understand a little bit. Zuko came up and we both walked to our rooms, ready to start on our way again tomorrow.

"Hey!" Sokka cried. "Are you guys ready to go tomorrow?"

"You guys are leaving tomorrow?" jet asked, disappointment dripping from his voice.

"Yeah, sorry." Zuko replied.

"Ah, you're kidding! I needed your help on a special mission!" Jet said.

That seemed to interest Sokka.

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Ria

The boys came back, seeming a little bit upset.

"What happened?" I asked and ran up to Zuko.

"Jet attacked an old man." Sokka said.

"What?" Katara cried. "This has to be a misunderstanding.

"He's messed up, Katara." Sokka snapped as he started packing a bag.

"I agree." Zuko added.

Katara demanded we hear his side, he played it cool, as usual. I rolled my eyes as he explained the old man was an assassin.

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Jet

I could still win Ria over. I knew it. I could definitely tell she liked this Zuko guy, but I would die trying. I managed to convince them to stay and help put out "wildfires." I flinched when I saw the scar guy wrap his arm around her waist.

She would come to her senses. I knew that she cared about me at least a little.

It was late at night when the others and I started putting the blasting jelly in place by the dam.

"Now listen, you are not to blow the dam until I give the signal, if the reservoir isn't full, the fire nation army could survive." I told them.

"But what about the people in the town? Wouldn't they get wiped out, too?" The duke questioned.

"That's the price of riding this place of the fire nation." I said as I bent to get eye level with him.

"Now be sure you don't blow the damn until I give the signal, got it?" I snapped at longshot, who just nodded.

Suddenly I saw pipsqueak holding that water tribe boy, Sokka by his ponytail. I walked over to him.

"Sokka, I'm glad you decided to join us." I said as they pulled him over to me.

"I heard your plan to destroy the earth kingdom town." Sokka snapped, holding his arm.

"Our plan is to kill off the firenation army. We would be considered heroes for that… to most people." I replied coolly, Rias face filling my mind. I was so excited to see the look on her face after I told her I killed of a whole army. If she didn't fall for me then, then she must be crazy.

"People live down there! Fathers, mothers, and small kids!" Sokka yelled at me.

"We can't win without making some sacrifices!" I yelled back.

"You lied to my friends!" he pointed an accusing finger at me.

"That's because they don't understand the demands of war." I said, playing with the piece of hay in my mouth.

"I understand. I understand that there is nothing you wont do to get what you want." He said.

Again my vision filled with Rias beautiful face.

"You have no idea…" I said. "I was wishing you would have an open mind… take him for walk… a long walk."

I watched as Smellerbee and Pipsqueak walked off with him.

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I watched as the avatar and Katara bent the water that was under the ground. Their hands were steady and moved gracefully. I stole a glance at Ria who sat by Zuko, watching them bend the water.

I saw the water from the ground start to pour into the river. I smiled in glee.

"Awesome! Meet me back at the hide out when you're done." I walked off.

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Ria

Zuko and I watched as Katara and Aang finished.

"Well that should do it!" I said. "let's go meet Jet."

"He told us to go back to the fort." Zuko argued.

"Come on, it doesn't matter." I could still tell he wasn't convinced.

I gave him a little peck on the cheek. "I know Jet gives you a bad feeling, but he's still my friend." I whispered, my lips almost touching his face.

I saw Katara and Aang share a knowing glance. I grabbed Zukos hand and pulled him along after me.

Once we finally made it to over the hill we saw the dam. It showed all the freedom fighters unloading barrels in front of the dam.

"Hey… what are they doing?" Katara asked, seeming confused.

"That's the blasting Jelly from the firenation!" I cried. And suddenly it made sense.

"Jets going to blow up the dam…" Aang said, saying the exact words I thought.

"No! That would destroy the town!" Katara yelled in horror.

"No… Jet wouldn't do that…" Katara whispered just as Aang tried to go stop him.

Before Aang could even make a gust of wind Jet flew from the trees and kicked him over.

"Jet! What on earth do you think you're doing?" I cried.

"Wow, Ria, I thought you would be more pleased than this..."

"Jet, how could you kill innocent people!?" I screamed, fury consuming me.

"I thought you would be on my side! I mean come on, We're killing off firenation soldiers, here!"

"You monster!" I screamed and flew at him, I swiped my leg under his feet, he flew up and landed on his back with a thud. Aang tried to take off, but Jet stole his glider.

I jumped at him again, Zuko at my side, he leaped up on one of the trees, I climbed after him.

"How I wish we could bend…" I muttered as I flew after him.

They were to fast seeing jet used his hook swords to glide through the trees like a zip line, and Aang was using airbending to keep up.

I growled in frustration.

I jumped back down to solid ground and stood by Katara, we watched the fight that took place in the trees.

Jet came at Aang with his hook swords, but he got blocked by a huge gust of wind. Aang ran as Jet chased.

"Jet stop this now!" I screamed at him.

"Think about what you're saying, Ria! Look at this from my point of view!"

I clenched my teeth together and tried to take off after him again, but Zuko held me back.

Aang suddenly crashed into a tree trunk, the force dazed him long enough to fall to the ground.

I ran over to him and helped him up. I didn't even notice jet start to approach us from behind.

I heard a grunt from Katara and the next thing I knew Jet was frozen to the tree.

I walked up to him and grabbed his neck. My face scrunched up in anger.

"What the heck, Jet?!" I screamed, feeling more furry then when I had gotten into my fight with Zuko.

"Ria, listen to me…"

"You're a sick monster! I can't believe I kissed you and managed to not throw up!" I screamed, my face right up by his.

"Ria-"

"I HOPE I NEVER SEE THE LIKES OF YOU AGAIN."

And suddenly I felt it start to happen, the same thing that happened the other night when I was fighting with Zuko… I felt a snake like tongue barely start to come out of my mouth before I clamped a hand over it.

Zuko gave me a weird look when he saw horror written all over my face. I managed to breathe in deep enough to calm my anger. I felt my tongue go back to normal. I tried to let my anger die out.

Katara could tell something was wrong so she stepped in to yell at Jet.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked in concern at seeing me stop screaming at Jet.

I didn't have time to answer. Jet gave the signal to blow the dam.

"NO!" I screamed. My heart skipped a beat.

"Sokka is our only chance!" Aang cried.

I had a serious thought of turning into my dragon form and going to save the people, but I knew I couldn't do that, no matter how bad I wanted to, I had to wait.

I saw the fire arrow fly.

"No…" Katara whispered.

We watched in horror as the dam exploded, a huge steady flow pouring into the valley bellow, I wanted to cry as it engulfed the small town.

"Sokka didn't make it…" Zuko said, grabbing me into a hug as I tried to fight the tears.

"All those people… Kids and families…" I cried into him.

"Jet you monster!" Katara screamed at him.

"It was a victory, the firenation is gone from the valley and now we are safe."

"It will be safe, away from you." Sokka said, coming up and explaining on how he evacuated the town.

I felt a huge relief wash over me.

I didn't even look back at Jet as I jumped on Appa.

"Let's get out of here, I never want to his face again." I snapped.

"Ria… please…" he begged.

I didn't look up. Zuko sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around me.

"Ria! Don't do this to me! I thought you would think I was a hero for doing this!"

"Yip-yip." Sokka said, making Appa take off.

I stole one last glance at him before we vanished into the clouds.

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Ria, what happened back there? When you broke off yelling at Jet?" Zuko asked me, concern written over his face.

"Well you see, when I get really angry... I... change." I said.

"You mean you turn into a dragon?" Aang asked from his seat on Appa.

"Yeah, I can't help it... I just change. Its happened once before when I was with my brother. Most of the time I can control myself. That was why I couldn't stay and talk to your Uncle that long all those years ago... I had to leave and cool off." I felt disappointment in myself.

"Well what about when we just fought the other night? That was the most angry I've ever seen you." Zuko said, his arm around my shoulder.

"I was really just about to change... But then you... You know... Kissed me..." I managed to say.

"YOU GUYS KISSED?" Sokka said in disbelief.

"Yeah." Zuko said, actually smiling.

"So... does that mean you are a... couple...?" Katara questioned.

"I'm not sure... maybe." I replied.

we all seemed to drop the conversation at that point.

I smiled at how perfect life seemed at this moment. I looked at the clouds and breathed in the fresh air. I looked at Zuko, who seemed to be at peace, too.

we kept flying into the clouds in search for an earthbending master for Aang.

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**HOLY SWEET MOTHER… LONGEST CHAPTER EVAH! WHOO!**

**It's so fluffy! :D **

**I really hope you guys liked this… let me know what you think of it!**

**Thanks again for the reviews! I am also going on vacation... again... so sorry I wont be posting new chapters for a while! but this time its only for a week. :D**

**I DO NOT OWN ATLA.**

**-Allie**


	15. Avatar Day

**DON'T HATE ME. I KNOW. Ok so some people in the reviews posted some mean things and then I just didn't feel like I should keep going because it sucked. **

**LIKE I SAID, PEOPLE. THIS IS NOT MENT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. **

**So then I decided to stop writing it seeing its crap. Then some people talked me into it.**

**Guys, I am so serious, please please please let me know if this is bad.**

**No wait, scratch that. I know it's bad. But tell me if it's so bad that I shouldn't keep going. And I thank whoever told me in the comments that this sucks. I know. **

**IF ALL OF YOU FEEL THE SAME WAY TELL ME, OK?! Gah. Please don't hate me. **

**D:**

**Sorry I took forever, too.**

**Anyways, enjoy this chapter and please review.**

**I AM BEGGING YOU TO TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. **

**That is all. Thanks again. **

**(p.s. I know this chapter is really slow, too.)**

**-Allie**

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The Swamp  Ria

I woke to the sound of Sokka screaming. "What are you doing in my mouth?!" I sat bolt upright, thinking there was danger.

Instead I saw Momo sitting on top of a curled up Sokka who was in his sleeping bag, angrily yelling at the lemur.

"Momo, you need to be a little more sensitive to my boundaries." Momo gave a small cry, obviously trying to get out of trouble.

"Aww. Sokka, you're scaring him." I said as I stood up and stepped over Zuko, who groaned in protest at waking up.

I scooped up the little creature and chirped some noises into his ear. He chirped a little back before he screeched at Sokka.

"What? What did he say?" Sokka asked when I laughed as if we were talking about him.

"Oh nothing." I said and set Momo down.

"Ya know, he only likes you because you can talk to him." Sokka said, standing up.

Suddenly the whole group sat bolt upright when Firenation soldiers came barreling into camp on top of some rhinos.

"Give up! You're completely surrounded!" the one who seemed to be in charge cried.

One of the soldiers who seemed to be a Yu Yan archer shot a flaming arrow at us. I managed to get out of the way just in time, but the ground went up in flames.

I dove for my bow, and notched an arrow into place.

I took aim and it soared through the air, piercing just where I had intended it to, it snagged the clothes of one of the soldiers and pinned him to the tree behind.

I took a moment to be grateful for my talent.

"Everyone! Onto the bison!" Zuko yelled, holding his swords as he tried to hold them off.

I didn't need to be told twice. I jumped on and took cover on the saddle just as an arrow zoomed over my head.

"My scrolls!" Katara cried. She used waterbending to freeze one of the soldiers, quickly grabbing her bow she meet me on top of Appa.

"My staff!" I heard the avatar yell. One of the soldiers used his ball and chain to knock over a tree, blocking Aangs path. He used airbending to jump over the huge fallen log. Another one of the men ignited of bomb and threw it in Aangs direction.

"Look out!" Zuko warned him.

Aang hit the bomb with the end of his staff, it blew off behind him. He used his bending to hop onto Appa, not wasting a second he told Appa "Yip yip." And we were air born.

After a second Sokka looked down in dismay. "My boomerang!"

"There's no time!" Katara said, her braid blowing in the wind.

"I got it!" I jumped down and hit the ground hard, thankful that Appa wasn't any higher up.

I heard an explosion of fire erupt behind me, and I dove for the boomerang. I tucked and rolled, landing right next to it. I only had a minute to take in my surroundings, as I saw a wall of fire coming at me head on.

I rolled out of the way just in time, feeling heat on my arm. I jumped up and sprinted past the archer, who shot an arrow at me.

I got out of the way and notched another arrow into place, letting it fly and pin him to a tree.

When I was in the cover of the trees I only paused to look back and make sure no one was watching. I was standing directly under Appa.

I double checked to be sure the firenation army wouldn't see before I used firebending to rocket myself back up onto Appa.

Once I was safely on Aang flicked the reins and we took off again.

"See?! Ria is a true friend." Sokka said, sticking his nose in the air.

"Are you insane?!" Zuko yelled as I passed the boomerang over to Sokka, who smiled in glee and rubbed it against his cheek in pure joy.

"I was fine!" I snapped, not needing Zuko to fuss over me.

"Obviously not!" Zuko said and grabbed my arm, just under the burn mark.

I pulled my arm away. "What's the big deal? I got the boomerang. That's all that matters!" I said, not understanding what the problem was.

"You're safety matters more than that stupid boomerang!" Zuko snapped his hair was blowing across his forehead, covering the eye with the scar over it. I rolled my eyes, trying not to let myself get too heated up.

"Just forget it. I'm fine." I said, grouchily looking at the view instead of Zuko.

He sighed and looked the other way, too.

_Wasn't it only a few days ago we kissed? What in spirits name is his problem? _I thought to myself.

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"We all sat down outside a small shop, Katara going up to buy something.

"You know, you're boomerang isn't that big of a deal." Aang stated as Sokka polished it.

"What are you talking about?!" Sokka cried. "My boomerang is like part of my identity! Imagine if you lost your arrows!" He cried, pointing a finger at Aangs blue arrow on top of his forehead.

"Or if Katara lost her… hair loopies!" he said as he ran over to his sister, pulling on a piece of her hair.

"Or what if Ria or Zuko lost their eye scars!?" he snapped, pointing in my general direction.

"Sokka! Be somewhat sensitive!" Katara snapped as she slugged her brother in the arm. He flinched and rubbed the spot where she punched him.

I laughed. "Ha! Doesn't really bug me, its part of me now." I said, gently touching the line than ran over my eye.

Zuko looked down. Obviously slightly offended at what I said.

"Zuko, I didn't mean-"

"I know what you meant. Just forget it." Zuko said, roughly grabbing a box full of fruit and walking away.

"Sokka, you idiot." Katara said, paying the man.

"Hey! Water tribe money!" the merchant said, holding up the blue coin.

"Yeah, I hope that's ok." Katara said in response, her blue eyes looking hopeful.

"Sure! Moneys money!" he said, going back behind his stand. We started walking away when he waved at us.

"Have a nice Avatar day!"

"Avatar day?" Aang asked, standing by Zuko who waited with our box of food.

"Yeah! You guys are going to the festival, right?" The man said, dusting of his large green shirt.

We all looked at each other and smiled.

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We walked through the small town, music brightening out steps. The sun was out and the sky was an amazing blue, a perfect day for a festival.

Sokka bought some deep fried bread and took a huge bite, looking lost in his own little world.

We came upon a huge circle, almost like a town square. Nothing was there, but the crowd cheered.

"Look! Its avatar Kyoshi!" Katara said, pointing at a massive float that looked like the past female avatar.

"Whoa! That is huge!" I said, my head tilted back as I tried to get the full experience.

We saw a huge Roku roll by, then a giant Aang, all three of them stopping in the middle of the clearing.

"That's the biggest me I've ever seen." Aang said with a huge smile on his face.

I looked down one of the roads and saw a man, shirtless and muscular, holding a torch high above his head. His hair was long and black and it blew behind him.

"Nice touch." Zuko said as the torch bearer ran past us.

"That's a great prop! It's bright, dangerous, and smells manly. I just wish I could pull it off." Sokka stated, taking another huge bite of his biscuit.

"Hey… what's he doing?" Katara asked, pointing out the fact that he was running straight for Kyoshi.

Before I could react he leaped through the paper avatar, igniting her into flames. She was completely up in flames as he put fire to Roku, then finishing by putting the torch to Aang.

"Down with the avatar! Down with the avatar!" The crowds cheered.

Me and Zuko shared a look of horror at what was happening.

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Katara ran forward, using water bending to put out the fires.

"Hey! That party pooper is ruining avatar day!" Someone from the crowds shouted.

Aang used his bending to leap up onto the huge burnt copy of himself. He took of his hat, exposing his arrow,

"That party pooper is my friend!" Aang shouted, standing on the shoulder of his copy.

"It's the avatar himself!" One of the towns man cried, his voice high pitched and annoying.

"He's gonna kill us with his crazy avatar powers!" Someone else shouted.

"No! I-"Suddenly the crowd started quivering in fear at the sight of Aangs hand that he held up.

He put his hand down.

"Whoa…" I whispered, looking at the people who were freaking out. I held up my hand and leaned over to Zuko, blocking my mouth so no one could see what I was saying.

"This is awkward." I whispered, practically singing the word 'awkward'.

My eyes stayed on Aang, who was trying to figure out what to do.

"I suggest you leave. You're not welcome here avatar." The one man in the dark green clothes and the funny accent stated, trying to dismiss the situation with a wave of his hand.

"What are you talking about? Aang helps people!" Katara said in confusion.

"I find that hard to swallow, seeing what you did in a past life! Avatar Kyoshi burned down our glorious leader, Chin the great." He said, rolling his letters when he talked.

"You think that I killed someone?" Aang asked in disbelief.

"Aang wouldn't kill anyone!" I said and stepped in, daring anyone to mess with my friends.

"It's not fair for you all to question his honor!" Katara said, placing a hand on Aangs shoulder defensively.

"Let's tell her what we think of the avatars honor!" Someone in the crowd shouted, turning around and waving his butt at us.

The crowd cheered in agreement.

"Give me a chance!" Aang said, making the crowd fall silent.

"The only way you can prove your innocent is if you go on trial." The town leader said, leaning forward as if he was expecting Aang to turn down the offer.

"I'll gladly stand trial!" Aang said, sounding sure of himself.

"You will have to follow all our rules, including paying bail." The man said, folding his hands.

"No problem." Aang said.

Next thing we knew Aang was in jail.

"How was I supposed to know they didn't take water tribe money?"

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"So what if some people don't like you? You have a whole nation that despise you!" Sokka told Aang through the bars of his cell. "Now come on, let's bust you out of here!" Sokka said.

"I agree with Sokka. We have more important stuff to worry about." Zuko said, leaning against the wall.

"I can't." Aang said sadly.

"Sure you can! A little, whooooooooo, swish! Swish! Swish! Airbending slice! And we're on our way!" Sokka said, making motions with his hands to try and mimic Aangs airbending.

We all went silent for a moment. A hand clamped over my mouth to try and keep myself from laughing at Sokkas weirdness.

"I think what master swish is trying to say here is that, you're supposed to be out saving the world. You can't do that if you're locked up in here!"

"I can't do that with people thinking I'm a murderer, either!" Aang said, looking defeated.

"Look, if Aang feels he has to do this, then who are we to question it?" I said, siding with the boy.

"I need you guys to help prove my innocence." Aang asked.

"How are we going to do that? The crime happened over three hundred years ago." Sokka asked.

"That's ok Sokka. For some reason, I thought you were an expert detective." Aang said. I could see very well what he was trying to do.

"Well… I guess you could say that." Sokka said, suddenly full of himself. I heard an annoyed groan come from Zuko.

For the next few minutes we were forced to hear about how Sokka uncovered the missing seal jerky back home.

"Ok, I guess I am a pretty good detective." He said. "But, I'm going to need some new props."

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We made a game plan. Zuko and I were going to hang back in case Aang needed help, and Sokka and Katara were going to try and find proof for Aang.

Sokka and Katara walked off, Sokka wearing his new ridiculous hat.

I sat outside Aangs cell, Zuko sitting across the room, looking down so that I couldn't look at his face.

I pulled my knees up to my chest, my hair falling down my legs.

Aang was sitting down awkwardly on the other side of the bars, sunlight pouring through the open ceiling.

"You know… you guys don't have to sit here, I don't think anything will happen. Why don't you go for a walk? If I need help I'll call."

Zuko looked up and nodded. I stood up and side by side we both went out of the jail.

"Want to go into the town? Maybe we could get something." I asked.

"Sure."

We walked around for a while, Zuko trailing behind me like a turtle slug as I looked at all the stands.

I pulled out my bag and stuffed my hand inside, digging around for a second until I pulled out two silver coins.

I gave them to a man at a food stand, and in return he handed me two pieces of bread.

"Happy Avatar day!" the man chirped, his beard covering most of his mouth.

"Yeah ok." I said and walked away with a wave of my hand.

Zuko and I walked for a while before we found a lonely bench and sat down.

It overlooked the ocean, and it was beautiful. The sun was beating down on us; I couldn't help but feel awkward near Zuko.

I reached into my pouch and searched for something, trying to break the quietness. I pulled my hand out, and an old necklace fell onto the ground.

Zuko bent down and picked it up. I blushed when I realized it was the old necklace he had given me; the white half of the yin and yang symbol.

He didn't look at me; instead he starred at the small piece of wood in his hand. I blushed harder when he wouldn't say anything. Maybe he didn't remember. I snatched the carved piece of wood attached to the string out of his hand and shoved it back into my pouch.

"That's…. nothing." I said awkwardly. Not even looking him in the eye.

"You kept that? After all these years? That stupid necklace?" he said, for the first time in a while looking at me.

I felt tears of anger brim in my eyes. "So what if I did?!" I snapped. I felt ridiculous. "I'm going to check on Aang." I said, not wanting to put up with Zuko.

"Wait…" he said and grabbed my arm, making me sit back down. He reached for his neck and pulled out from under his shirt the other half of the necklace.

I blinked a smile of disbelief on my face. "You… kept yours too?" I said.

"I never took it off. Ever." He said.

Suddenly I laughed. Really hard. I laughed so hard I almost fell off the bench. "What are we doing?" I got out after we both laughed for a good few minutes.

"Good question. I have no idea." He said, whipping away a tear of laughter.

I looked at him, the boy I had grown up with, the one I had told things to I could never dream of telling anyone else.

And suddenly… we talked. We opened up to each other like never before. I told him about how much I missed him; he talked about how he couldn't live when I left. We retold stories of out childhood, and he laughed and told me that he hated Azula and Michi more than ever once I left, and I told him I still hated them.

I looked out over the sea and realized we had to have been talking for hours. And I jumped up when I remembered Aang.

I grabbed Zuko's hand, dragging him behind me.

"Hey! What's wrong?" Zuko yelled as we pushed ourselves through the crowds. I didn't need to remind him when he remembered we had forgotten all about Aang.

We finally got back to see Katara and Sokka telling the town leader that they found evidence that Aang wasn't guilty.

"Hey you two love birds, you were supposed to be watching Aang." Sokka said, pointing a finger at us.

"Well we're here now, aren't we?" I snapped.

"Well Aang needs to try and convince everyone that he isn't guilty!" Katara said in anguish, looking at our friend behind the bars.

"Well let's all get some rest. Aang will need it in court tomorrow."

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Zuko and I sat side by side, watching in horror at Aang trying to prove to the crowd in front of him that he wasn't guilty, and failing miserably.

"You see, I have really large feet, and your statue is made of the same thing as that." He said, pointing at the temple.

I felt my hand smack my forehead and I slowly shook my head back in forth at how he wasn't making any sense.

Katara and Sokka gave him a thumbs up, but then Sokka hissed in his sisters year, "He is so dead." Not taking the smile off his face.

"But… I was in a painting at sunset… so there you have it! I'm not guilty!" Aang said, doing a little dance in the huge wood cuffs that went around his hands and neck.

Zuko tried not to laugh.

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"Your honor, I would like for the court to hear on last testimony." Katara said, standing in front of the crowd.

"I already told you! It's just me and the accused! You cannot call any witnesses!" he said, standing up and crossing his arms as if the whole thing was already over.

"This isn't just any witness, this is avatar Kyoshi herself!" Katara said, thrusting her arm out to show Aang, who was dressed up in Kyoshi warrior dress, having it hanging down low.

Zuko shoot me a look.

"Hey… you got to admit… I did a pretty good job on his makeup. Oops… I mean _her _makeup." I said, holding up the dirty paintbrush I had used to plaster paint on Aangs face.

"What are you doing?" Sokka hissed at Katara.

"Well… she is his past life. Maybe wearing her clothes will trigger something!" Katara said, looking lost.

"This is ridiculous!" mayor Tong said, throwing his arms in the air in frustration.

"Please! I'm sure Kyoshi will be here!" Katara pleaded.

We all drew our attention to Aang, who was hiding behind his fan. "Hey everybody." Aang said, making his voice high. "Avatar Kyoshi here."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "This is better than an Ember island play." I held in a laugh remembering the plays we used to go see as kids.

"This is crazy." Tong said, walking up to Aang/ Kyoshi and addressing the whole crowd. "For the murder of Chin the great, this court finds the avatar-"

He was cut off by a sudden gust of wind, dust completely blocking me from seeing anything. I shielded my eyes and leaned into Zuko, who wrapped his arm around me protectively.

Once the dust cleared I blinked in amazement at Kyoshi standing in the clearing.

"I killed Chin the conqueror. "The past avatar stated, standing firm and strong.

"Chin was expanding his army to our corners of the continent. When he came to our land he demanded our surrender. I warned him that I would not sit passably while he took our home. But he did not listen. On that day, we split the land."

Kyoshi didn't kill Chin the great… he fell to his death. My mind raced when I saw an image of the leader falling into the churching waves off the cliff side.

"I created Kyoshi island so my people could be safe from invaders." The lady with the face paint stated. She bowed her head and the wind once again swirled around her, picking up dust.

Once the wind ceased Aang stood in the middle, still wearing his stupid outfit. He looked dizzy and almost fell over; I ran up with Zuko to help him stay on his feet.

He looked me in the eye after a moment. "So… what just happened?" he asked, sounding exhausted.

"I think you just confessed." Katara said, looking concerned as she ran up to us, too.

"And I find him guilty!" Tong said, pointing an angry finger in his direction. "Bring out the wheel of punishment!" He cried, the crowds cheering him on.

"This can't be good." I mumbled in frustration.

A huge wheel was brought out; different parts of it had pictures on it, one a shark, one a beaver bear, and several others, depending which one the needle at the top stopped on would be the one Aang would have to do.

"Come on... Community service." Katara silently pleaded.

"I said I would serve justice. And I will." Aang said, standing in the middle of the court.

He grabbed the wheel and spun it. After a few terrifying moments the wheel slowed. I felt my heart go faster as it nearly stopped on community service, but then landed on a picture of a guy in a huge steaming pot.

"Getting boiled in oil it is!" Tong said in joy. The crowds erupted into cheers of seeing the avatar in pain.

Out of nowhere a bomb rolled in. without any forethought of hesitation I dove for it. In a quick motion I picked it up and threw it into the air, it blew up, but not hurting anyone.

"We're under attack!" I screamed.

"We have come to claim this town for the fire lord!" The same guy who attacked our camp before cried, on top of his rhino. "Now show me you're leader so we may dethrone him."

He said in an icy cold voice, the other fire nation solider sliced up the statue of Chin, and it crumbled on to the ground in a stony heap.

"That's him over there!" one of the towns man cried, his finger pointing directly at Tong, who dove behind the wheel in fear.

"Avatar! Do something!" he begged.

"Yeah, I would love to help, but I'm supposed to be boiled in oil." Aang said, yet still in his Kyoshi outfit.

"There!" Tong said, turning the wheel over a space so it was now on community service.

"It's on community service. Now serve our community and get rid of the fire nation!" he yelled.

Aang gave a small smile, and sprinted forward, his outfit blowing off to reveal his old orange and yellow one. He used his Kyoshi fans to blow a huge gust of wind at one of the firenation soldiers.

I looked at Zuko. "I'll take on the one with the whip if you get the one with the bombs." I said as the rhinos made their way to the village, the people screaming in terror as the building lite on fire.

"You're on." Zuko said, pulling out his double swords. I felt a burst of excitement as I pulled my bow of my back.

We both ran, side by side, an arrow notched in my bow and Zuko holding a tight grip on his swords.

We turned a corner to show a solider about to light another building up into fire. My eyes automatically focused on his belt, a weak spot showing. It only took me half a second to take aim; the arrow flew with a hiss. It went through one of his belt loops, the force throwing him against the wall. The arrow dug deep into the wall behind him.

We booked it around another corner to see the one with the bombs.

"I got this guy." Zuko said. He hurled a bomb at Zuko, and he used his sword to hit the bomb right back at him, exploding in the guy's face.

He fell of his Rhino with a thud and lay there dazed. "Too easy." Zuko said, sounding disappointed.

"What wrong? Sad you couldn't show off?" I teased. He gave a huff of laughter. He ran to see Katara finishing off the last one.

We stood there, feeling pleased with our work as the army lay around the town, passed out or moaning.

"Not bad." I said and gave Zuko a friendly punch in the arm.

"Just wish they could have put up more of a fight." Zuko said, obviously trying to be impressive.

"Well I thought you did a great job." I smiled.

He looked at me and smiled back.

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Beautiful fireworks shot over head of us, lighting the sky up in just as many colors as I could bend.

"Today we will celebrate a new avatar day, a day to remember the Rhino invasion and when Aang saved us all!" Tong said, the crowd cheering around him.

Aang stood in the middle of the circle, all of us holding bowls. I looked down at the little shape cut out of boys made of dough.

"What is this?" Sokka asked, looking into his bowl.

"Our new festival food! Uncooked dough. May we eat it and remember the day that the avatar was _not_ cooked in oil."

I felt a little sick just looking at it.

Confetti showered over us, and the crowd cheered us on. "Well… happy avatar day." I said, throwing a piece in my mouth and forcing myself to swallow.

Zuko did the same.

Sokka just looked down into his bowl, obviously missing his deep fried food. "This is by far the worst town we have ever been to."

I threw my head back and let out a loud laugh, the others joining in.


	16. The Blind Bandit

The Blind Bandit

Ria

It had taken us a while, but we finally made it to a small earth town, it was a beautiful day and not a cloud in the sky. The small town was having a rush of people in the busy day, shopping for food and clothes since everyone was off of work. Normally I would want to go explore, but Aang was being sure we stayed together as a group, and of course Sokka was holding us up.

"It's pricey… but… I really do like it." Sokka said, trying to decide whether or not he should buy the green bag that stood on the table before us.

I heard Zuko give a sigh.

"Then you should get it. You deserve something nice." Katara said, obviously just trying to get Sokka to decide.

I gave a giggle at how Sokka was putting so much thought into this.

"I do, don't I?" Sokka said, Aang sitting at my feet with a huge hat on, trying to cover up his tattoo.

"But no… it's too expensive." Sokka said, looking at it from a different angle.

"Oh come on, Sokka. It will match your eyes!" I said, giving a laugh.

"It will, wont it?" He said, getting excited and holding it up to his face to make sure it would compliment him alright.

I just laughed harder at how he took me seriously.

Zuko growled in frustration. "This is so stupid."

"It's fine! It's not like we're in any rush, right?" I said, trying to cheer him up.

Sokka finally made up his mind. "I just can't. It's too expensive." He said, his shoulders slumping in disappointment.

"Ok, well let's go then." I said, moving our group along. I saw Sokka drag behind for a while, but then he suddenly changed his mind and went back to buy it.

Zuko looked so annoyed for a moment, but then we all laughed.

Sokka came rushing back, his new bag slinged around his shoulder; he had a huge grin on his face from the new thing.

We walked on for a while, when suddenly a man came up and nudged me from behind.

"Hey, you kids like earthbending? Ya like throwing rocks? Well then check out master You's earthbending class!"

He handed me a piece of paper on it, showing us the way to this guys place for some earthbending practice.

"It says the first lessons free. Who knows? Maybe you can learn something from this guy." I said, handing the flyer to Aang.

"Well it can't hurt, right?" Aang decided.

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Katara, Zuko, Sokka and I all sat outside while Aang went to his first lesson. It didn't take too long before he came back outside to where we were waiting, a fine coating of dirt covered him head to toe.

"Oh, no! Are you hurt?" I asked and jumped up, helping Aang brush off all the dirt.

"I'm fine, he wasn't the one." Aang said, his voice dripping with disappointment.

"Hey… don't worry about it. We'll find someone before you know it." I said, giving him a smile.

Before he could say anything some kids walked out from the building behind us.

"I totally think the boulder is going to win back the trophy!" The one kid declared.

"Well he's gonna have to fight off some of the best earthbending champions in the world if he want a shot!" The other said.

Aang got a spark of excitement.

"Excuse me!" He said, catching up to them. "But where is this earthbending tournament thing?" Aang asked, stopping next to the two teenage boys.

"It's on the island of nunya." The kid with the spiked hair said. "Nunya business!"

Him and the kid with the brown hair laughed as if it was the funniest thing ever.

Zuko took a threatening step forward as the two walked away. Sokka bent over from laughter.

"AHA. AHAHA. Oh I gotta remember that one." He said, whipping away a tear from laughter.

Aang looked disappointed again. I smiled. "I think us ladies can handle these two, right Katara?"

She gave a grin and we both ran after them. "Hey strong guys, wait up!" She yelled as we both ran after them.

I tried not to laugh. We caught up to them just as they turned a corner.

Katara took a water bending stance and I pulled a small knife from my boot. I stood with one hand on my hip, the other tapping the knife against my thigh.

"We're gonna ask you two one more time. And I think you're going to answer us." I said, positioning myself.

"What are you going to do…?" One asked in horror.

"Let's just say… I have pretty great aim."

I held my arm up over my head and threw it down, releasing the knife. It turned in the air a few times before it stuck into the wall right behind the one with the spiked hair, not even an inch from making contact with his face.

"Should I ask again? Or maybe next time I'll just let it stick into you a little more." I said, crossing my arms.

Both eyes filled with fear. "Take three right turns and it's the building head on! It's called earth rumble 6! Don't hurt us!" Both boys cried, holding on to each other.

Katara and I made our way back to the boys.

"Ready to find an earthbending teacher? Because we're going to earth rumble 6!" Katara cried in joy.

"How did… you know what… it's better if we don't know." Zuko said with a smile and wrapped his arm around me. We all walked down to the stadium.

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Our group of five walked into the huge stadium in the mountain. It was dark and damp, the only light was a green glow. A rink stood in the middle, ropes going around it. The crowds screamed.

"Hey! Front row seats!" Aang said in happiness as we all sat down. I heard the huge rock coming at me before I saw it. Zuko and I managed to dodge out of its way just in time as it slammed into where we were sitting, causing a huge cloud of dust.

I gulped when the cloud dust settled to show the massive boulder.

The crowds cheered as if they had just seen the most amazing thing.

"I guess we know why no one else is sitting here." Zuko said in shock, both of us still on the floor from our fast leap out of the way.

Zuko helped me back up and we sat down, drawing out attention to the rink.

A man stood in the middle. "Welcome to earth rumble 6!" He cried loud enough for the massive crowds to hear. "I am your host, Shin Fo!" He yelled.

I heard Katara sigh next to me. "This is just going to be a bunch of guys chucking rocks at each other, isn't it?" She said, not even watching the first fight break out.

"That's what I payed for." Sokka said. I was barely paying attention.

"RIP 'EM TO SHREDS." I screamed, standing up from my seat in all my excitement, the force throwing the popcorn from Zuko's hand all on the floor.

"Whoa… I never knew you had this side to you." He said, looking down at the spilled snack.

I didn't even hear. Not even taking my eyes off the rink I started grabbing Zuko's shirt in all my furry.

"SHOW NO MERCY." I screeched, shacking Zuko back and forth by his shirt collar.

I realized that Zuko was horrified, so I sat down and smoothed out my shirt. "I mean… this is so stupid." I said, sticking my nose in the air like Katara, acting like it was lame.

"Round one!" Shin Fo yelled for the whole audience to hear. "The Boulder vs. the Hippo!"

I looked at the rink to see the biggest man I think I have ever seen. He roared like a massive hippo- tiger.

The Boulder stood his ground. "Listen up, Hippo. You may be big, but you 'anit bad. The Boulders going to win this, in a land slide." He said, moving his hands around in excited movements.

We watched as the Boulder threw the hippo out of the rink in a matter of seconds.

"What about him?" Katara asked, looking at the Boulder.

"No… Bumi said we need someone who waits and listens. He's just listening to his huge muscles." Aang said.

"What do you guys think?" Katara asked looking our way. I couldn't answer seeing Sokka was standing up from his seat screaming.

Man after man the Boulder kept taking down was ease, all of them flying of the stage in amazingly horrendous ways. I tried not to jump up from my seat and scream. But soon I gave up on that dream and both Sokka and I were cheering the Boulder on.

Now it was finally time for the last fight.

"Now… the moment you have all been waiting for, The Boulder, vs. your champion, The Blind Bandit!" Shin Fo cried, pointing to a little girl standing on one side of the rink.

"She can't really be blind… can she?" I asked Zuko.

"I think she is." Zuko said, squinting to get a better look at the little girl in green.

"I think she is... GOING DOWN." Sokka yelled, still on the big man's side. His scream startled Momo, so he dove behind me in fear.

"The Boulder feels conflicted about hurting young, blind girl." The Boulder said, pointing to her.

"Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder." She said in a mocking voice.

"Oh my gosh! She's so dead!" I cried, holding onto Zuko in anticipation.

The huge man looked dumbfounded. "The Boulder is over his conflicting emotions and is now ready to burry you… IN A ROCK O LANCH." He cried, getting ready to hurt the little girl.

"Whenever you're ready… _pebble._" She said, making the Boulder furious.

The Boulder ran at her, and after about two steps the young girl moved her foot in one fast motion.

A small bump in the rock went from her foot to under to Boulders, causing him to go into a full split.

Sokka looked horrified.

The Boulder threw his head back and let out the loudest scream of pain I have ever heard. I flinched just looking at his position.

With a flick of the young childs hand, three rocks can bursting from the ground, smashing into the Boulder, causing him to fly and smack into the wall near us.

"I can't believe it… they weren't even in the rink together for a minute." I whispered in awe and shock.

"Your winner… and still the champion. THE BLIND BANDIT!" The announcer yelled as she lifted her arm in victory.

Sokka burst into tears over the fact that his idol just lost to a tiny kid.

My mouth was still hanging open in shock.

"How did she do that?" Katara asked.

"She waited… and she listened." Aang said. I could tell what he was thinking.

I drew my attention back to the arena. "To make things more interesting, I am going to offer this sack of gold pieces to whoever can defeat the blind bandit!" Shin Fo yelled into the crowd. No one dared.

"What? No one dares to face her?" He said in disbelief.

"I will." Came the all too familiar voice of Aang, who happily walked up into the rink.

I gasped in horror.

Aang faced her. "Go Aang! Avenge the boulder!" Sokka screamed.

"Do people really want to see _two_ little girls fighting out here?!" She said, trying to get Aang mad.

The crowd gasped.

"I don't really want to fight you. I want to talk to you." Aang said.

"BOOOO. NO TALKING. MORE FIGHTING." Sokka yelled.

I flicked Sokka in the head in irritation.

The girl moved her foot and a rock popped up from under Aang's feet. He floated to the other end of the rink.

"Someone's a little light on their feet." She said, slightly frustrated. "What's your name? The fancy dancer?!" She snapped, lifting another rock up under Aang's feet.

Aang flew to another corner. "Please! Listen!" He begged.

"There you are!" She said, lifting a huge rock from the ground and throwing it at the airbender.

Aang used his bending to avoid the rock, a gust of wind knocking her off the rink.

The crowd erupted into cheers. I jumped up to celebrate as Aang ran after her.

The girl left as Aang tried to follow her, the mountain swallowing her up and blocking Aang from coming after her.

I walked over to Sokka and Katara, both standing by Shin Fo. Sokka grabbed the money and held up the belt in the air, encouraging the crowds to cheer us on.

"Congratulations champ." Sokka said, slinging an arm around Aang. The airbender just looked down in disappointment.

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Zuko

The five of us walked down the street, me and Ria matching each other's footsteps. Sokka walked in front of us, holding his bag next to Aang's belt he won last night.

"I have to admit. I'm really glad I got this bag now. It matches the belt perfectly." He said in bliss.

"Oh good." I said, my voice dripping in sarcasm. "I was so worried about it."

"If we want to find the Blind Bandit, the earthbending academy is a good place to start." Aang changed the subject as we walked under the green arch that led into the school.

We walked into the court yard to see the same to kids that gave us trouble last time. Both pounding some sand that was in a big pot.

_Probably some kind of stupid earthbending exercise. _I thought in annoyance.

Both looked up, their eyes falling onto Ria. "It's the crazed knife girl!" One screamed in fear. "Make a run for it!" The other cried, trying to dive away.

I caught him just in time by the back of his shirt and hoisted him off the ground.

"Please don't let the scary lady hurt us." The one I held by the shirt cried, tears streaming down his face.

Ria walked around to face him. "We need to know where the Blind Bandit is." She said her face only an inch from his to let him know she meant it.

"I don't know! I swear! Please… spare me." He cried.

Ria rolled her eyes. "Let him down, Zuko. I think he means it." My extended hand released its firm grip and the boy landed on his feet.

Aang sighed in frustration. "Don't you guys have _any_ idea?" He pleaded.

"The Blind Bandit is a mystery." The boy who just watched his friend get bullied said. "She shows up to fight, and then is never seen."

"You're not telling us everything!" Katara snapped, taking a step closer.

"No no! I swear it's true!" The one boy held up his hands in defense. "No one knows who she really is." He said, almost looking ready to break into tears like his friend. "Please don't hurt us."

"That's because we're asking about the wrong person!" Aang explained, looking as if he had just figured out what we were doing wrong. "In my vision, I saw a girl, in a white dress, with a pet flying boar."

"Well a flying boar is the symbol of the Bei Fong family." The kid with the lighter hair explained as the other one hid behind him. "They're the richest people in town. Probably the whole world." He said.

"Yeah!" The one with the darker hair said. "But they don't have a daughter."

"Well the flying boar is good enough for me! Let's go!" Aang said, running out of the court yard.

I started to follow when I heard one of them speak up again, not intending for us to hear. "Yeah... You better run."

Ria turned around fast and took aim with a knife. Both boys dove behind the pots. We both walked out laughing.

Katara just gave both of them a threatening glance.

Sokka walked out last, walking backwards and trying to be smooth.

"Watertribe…" he whispeared.

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All of us hid under a small hill, looking at the huge mansion in front of us that was guarded by two men.

"Whoa… these people are almost as rich as the royal family." I stated, remembering my old home.

"Is that the flying boar you were thinking of?" Ria whispered, looking at the big picture on the front door of the flying pig.

"Yeah that's the one." Aang said in happiness. "Come on."

He used airbending to lift himself over the fence, while Ria used her arrows as arm holds to help her climb over, me following close behind.

We hid behind a bush, looking for a way to get inside. Suddenly I felt the earth rumble underneath me, lifting me into the air.

I landed in a bush next to Sokka, who looked just as dazed as I was.

"What are you doing here, twinkle toes?" I heard the familiar voice of the little girl say.

"How did you know it was me?" Aang questioned, lying in a bush.

"Don't answer to twinkle toes… it's not manly." Sokka complained, sitting up and rubbing the spot on his arm where he landed.

"You're the one whose bag matches his belt." His sister snapped, brushing off her dress.

I stood up and gave Ria a hand who took it and stood next to me.

"How did you find me?" She said, ignoring what Aang had just asked.

"Well… the crazy earth kind told me I had to find someone who waits and listens, then I saw you in a magic swamp and-"

Katara cut him off before he made a bigger fool of himself. "What Aang is trying to say is, he's the avatar, and if he can't master earthbending soon then he can't defeat the firelord."

"Not my issue." She snapped, holding a hand up to block off Katara. "Now get out of here, or I'll call my guards."

"Hey. Aang really needs someone. And we think it's supposed to be you. Can't you just give it a try?" Ria asked, following her.

Suddenly she gave a cry of fear. "Guards! Guards help!" She cried. I ran after everyone else, all of us jumping over the fence.

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I sat by Ria, all of us in the Bei Fong house hold. Once they found out the avatar wanted to talk to them they welcomed us in with happy faces, minus they blind girl, Toph, she just sat at the end of the table with an evil scowl.

On my other side sat Sokka, who apparently forgot how to use his manners noisily ate the food in front of us.

I couldn't imagine the punishment I would get for eating like that if I were back in the firenation.

Some soup was set down in front of Toph, a light steam coming up from it.

"Blow on it. It is too hot for her." Her father demanded to the servant who had served the soup.

"Allow me." Aang piped up from his seat. He made a small tornado in the palm of his hand and sent it at Toph, blowing the steam from her soup, an applause followed Aang's little trick.

"Avatar Aang, it is an honor for you to come visit us." Mrs. Bei Fong said, her pale makeup on her face just showing how rich she was.

"Yes." Agreed her husband, who used chop sticks to pick up some noodles. "In your opinion, how much longer do you think the war will last?"

"Well… I would like to defeat the firelord by the end of summer, but I just need an earthbending teacher and then I'm set." He said, giving Toph a sly look even though she couldn't see.

"Why not use master Yu?" He said, not noticing the furry on his daughters face. "He is the best earthbending teacher in the land. He teaches Toph."

"Then she must be a great earthbender!" Aang said. "Hey! Maybe she could-"

He broke off and jumped up in pain. "Ow!" He yelped.

"Toph is still learning the basics." Her father said, ignoring the outburst from Aang. "Yes. And sadly she will not become a true master from her blindness."

I cast Ria a confused glance.

"I'm pretty sure she is better than you think she-"

Aang broke off again, this time his chair lurched forward, causing his face to go into his bowl with a splat.

Aang looked up, food all over his face. He tried to say something, but broke off to sneeze. Food flew everywhere, getting all over Ria and I.

"Hey watch it, missy!" Ria snapped, anger all over her face.

"What's your problem?" Toph snapped at Aang.

"What's _your_ problem?!" Aang yelled back.

The Bei Fongs whipped food from their faces, looking completely calm.

"Well… maybe we should move to the living room for desert, then?" She asked.

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After desert the family invited us to spend the night. I set up on my bed, while Ria set hers up on the other side of the room.

Ria walked over to the window to tell Appa were he would go to sleep for the night.

I heard footsteps and Aang jumped, getting in position to fight. I looked in the doorway to see Toph leaning against the frame.

"Look I'm sorry about tonight."She said calmly. "Let's call it even."

She invited Aang to go out in the court yard so she could explain things. He looked at us, and I gave him an encouraging nod, he walked out the door with her.

I looked around the room. It was large, with really tall ceilings. So tall Appa could fit in here if he really wanted to. The room was painted a light green, not surprising seeing the family were earthbenders.

I sat down on Ria's bed next to her. I smiled.

"Hey." She said and sat back from smoothing out her blankets.

"Hey." I whispeared, taking in her smooth face.

"Long day, huh?" She said softly.

I didn't respond. She laid her head down on my lap and I ran my fingers through her soft hair. She pulled her knees up to her chest, getting comfy.

She closed her eyes, and right when I thought she was asleep The Bei Fongs came bursting into our rooms in a panic.

Ria shot up, and I got a little annoyed.

"What?!" I snapped.

"It's Toph!" The Mrs. Bei Fong said in tears. "She and the avatar got kidnapped."

I was already on my feet running out the door. I stopped when I saw a sword in the ground with a letter on it.

I picked it up. "If you want to see your daughter again, bring 500 gold pieces to the arena tonight." I said out loud. "It's signed Shin Fo and the Boulder." I said.

"I can't believe this." Sokka said. Suddenly he got excited and ripped the scroll from my hands. "I have the boulders autograph!"

I grabbed it back and beat him over the head with it.

"Poor Toph. She must be so afraid." He mother sobbed. Ria walked over opt her and patted her back.

"Don't worry, we'll get them back." She said.

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I ran into the arena to see two metal boxes hanging from the ceiling.

"We have your money." Mr. Bei Fong said. "Now let her go." He slid the money over to Shin Fo, who picked it up to make sure it was real.

He waved his hand to signal for them to drop the box. Toph landed on her feet and ran aver to her father, who quickly put her behind him.

"Let go of Aang." I demanded.

"I don't think so, I'm pretty sure the firenation will pay a fine price for this one." He said. "Now get out of my ring."

I held my ground, but was suddenly side tracked as all the wrestlers came out of nowhere, tacking a fighting stance.

They did look intimidating, but I was sure we could take them.

"Toph, there's too many of them, we need an earthbender. We need _you._" Katara yelled after the blind girl.

"My daughter is blind. She is blind and she is tiny and she is helpless. She cannot help you!" her father yelled at her.

"Yes." Toph said, letting go of her father's hand. "I can."

Toph walked behind the wrestlers, one of which was holding the metal cage Aang was in.

"Let him go! I've beet you all once and I can do it again!" She yelled.

"The Boulder takes issue with that statement." The Boulder said, throwing the cage.

All the men came running towards us. I took my firebending stance. I felt Ria put a firm hand on my chest to stop me.

"Let Toph handle this." She said in her soft voice.

Suddenly Toph brought her foot down on the ground hard, sending a wave of dust flying, covering the wrestlers.

She went into the huge cloud of dust.

After a moment I heard a thud, and the man dressed up as a firenation solider came flying out, slamming into the side wall.

I ran over to Aang in the metal cage, Katara and Ria already there, Katara was banging on it, trying to bust it open.

Ria suddenly gave up on the whole rock idea, and slowly her hands grew to be a deep red. She placed her hands on the cage and held on for a moment, after a second the metal melted and she ripped the door off with ease.

"You're amazing." I said sheepishly.

"Why thank you." She said and gave a small curtsey.

Aang jumped from the box and took a stance, ready to help Toph, Sokka just shook his head no, and we watched as the blind girl took on all the men.

Ria cheered as everyone of them flew from the dust cloud, slamming into the wall.

Finally it was down to only two. Shin Fo and Toph. The dust had now settled, and they stood at each end of the rink.

Shin popped his neck, and Toph spat. He sent the first attack, Toph quickly sent up a wall of rock to shield herself, she found a weak spot, and hurled a rock at him, he barley managed to dodge before he sent another rock at her.

She stepped just in time, before sending another rock. It slammed into him and he flew right into the stadium.

Ria jumped up and clapped in joy at Toph winning.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

We made it back to the Bie Fong house, not a scratch on anyone.

Toph walked up to her father to explain herself.

"Dad, I know it's hard for you to see me this way, but the obedient, helpless, blind girl that you think I am just isn't me. I love fighting, I love being an earthbender, and I'm really, really good at it. I know I've kept my life secret from you, but you were keeping me secret from the whole world. I know you were doing it to protect me, but I'm twelve years old and I've never had a real friend. So now that you see who I really am, I hope it doesn't change the way you see me." She said, sadness dripping in her voice.

"Of course not, honey." He dad said, sitting in his chair. "It's made me realize something." Her father said.

"It has?" She asked in excitement.

"It made me realize I give you too much freedom. From now on you will be guarded twenty four hours a day." He said in a firm voice.

I shared a look with Aang who looked horrified.

"But, dad!" She started to protest.

"We're doing this for your own good." Her mother said softly.

"Please escort the avatar and his friends out. They are no longer welcome here." He said in a rough voice, pointing us to the door.

I felt a guard roughly grab my arm and I yanked it back.

"I heard him." I snapped.

Aang looked extremely disappointed. "I'm sorry Toph." Aang said, looking back.

"I am too. Goodbye, Aang." She said, tears threatening to spill over her glazed eyes.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was late at night and we were packing up to head off on Appa. Aang looked over the valley, sadness in his eyes. I saw Katara walk over and share a few words with him.

"Rough night, huh." I said and sat down by Ria, who looked tired.

"You could say that again." She said, giving a sleepy smile.

She hugged my arm and buried her face into me. "At least we get to sleep now." She said.

I heard the sound of running and saw Toph sprinting up to us. "Wait!" She cried.

"What are you doing here?" Ria said, sitting up.

I felt another flash of annoyance at Ria getting woken up again.

"My dad changed his mind. I can come with you know!" She said in excitement."

I shared a knowing glance with Ria. "Well we better go, before he changes his mind again." I said.

"You'll be a great teacher, Toph." Aang said in joy.

"Speaking of which, I want to show you something."

"Ok!" Aang said and hopped off of Appa. As soon as his feet hit the ground the ground lifted him up and he landed in a tee.

"Now we're even."

Ria laughed at the sight of Aang stuck in a tree.

"I'll take the belt back." She said, holding her arm out for it.

Sokka took it off and threw it down at her, and it landed on her head. She fell over with a yelp of pain.

"Sorry." Sokka said awkwardly.

Toph climbed onto Appa for the first time, and finally our group seemed complete. The six of us flew into the night sky over head, Ria finally asleep in my arms.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

~(-_-)~ **WATER TRIBE….**

**Hello. Here is the next chapter. Enjoy it. That is all. Also review and please tell me what you think. **

**It would mean a lot.**

**I do not own avatar.**

**-Allie **


	17. Author's Note

**Okay, so I have gotten a lot of people telling me that I should not continue with this. **

**I would like to point out a few things.**

**1. This was never ever ever meant to be taken seriously. Ever. Not even in a million years.**

**2. People have been telling me there are issues with the grammar. I would like to say something.**

**I am not a writer. As much as I wish I could be, I am not. I have Dyslexia.**

**I am not by any means trying to blame my suckish story on that, but if it helps you to understand why my story is the way it is, that would be great. **

**3. So I have decided to stop writing this, I just do not want to put in the time for people to tell me what I can do better when this story was never even meant for public eyes. **

**I am so sorry for the disappointment in this story. And if it really means very much to some of you then I may continue, but as of know from what people are telling me, this story will not work out. **

**Please tell me if you would be crushed to see this story stop, other wise, thank you for giving the story and me (even with my dyslexia) a chance. **

**-Allie **


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